This Fairy Tale Sucks!
by monohighbrid
Summary: Half a dozen dead bodies lead Benny Lafitte into the Oregon woods where he learns the hard way that not all fairies grant wishes, but maybe some do. Canon-divergence, human Benny, Hunter Benny, case fic


Benny dreaded to call back when he saw the name on his phone. As far as he was concerned Martin Creaser was an obsessive nut job. Nothing wrong with that, that's what kept most hunters running, Bobby, Sam and Dean, and most definitely him included, but Creaser was on the wrong spectrum of crazy, the Gordon Walker spectrum, look how that had panned out. Funny anecdote after a couple of beers and some fingers of whiskey, but Sam still looked a little spooked, even after all these years. Walker had been so far over the cuckoos' nest that getting his head cut off with razor wire was definitely not the worst thing that ever happened to him. Benny had hunted with Creaser once, a bunch of werewolves, nothing fancy. The guy actually said things like "show thyself, thou unholy creature" and _meant_ that, and he had done that _before_ he cracked. That couldn't be healthy. John Winchester had owed the guy some, he obviously had been good in the past, until he lost most of his marbles at least, so Sam let him trek things after he got back from the looney bin. And trekking he did. Some of the poor assholes he dug up didn't even do anything. Garth, Ellen and Bobby had let some of them run, which caused all kinds of screaming and stomping feet until Dean stopped all discussion with the ultimate argument in form of a nice jab on the jaw. Benny had enjoyed this particular story. Why Creaser was calling him of all people was beyond Benny. Benny's recent short trip into the world of vampirism was well known among the hunter community, for some reason. He iced a nest on Prentiss Island together with Dean and got turned in the process. He was horrified how fast Dean stopped to smell like stale beer, sweat and goo, but like the most delicious home cooked meal his Momma ever made for him, so naturally Benny took off, already planning his disembodiment, totally not hearing Dean's shouted words. He already lied on the rails waiting for the 3.45 a.m. express train when Hot Wings showed up and gave him one of his constipated looks and suddenly Benny was in Bobby's place. Getting cured was helluva better than being a vamp and even better than being dead, but man these three days easily made it in his top 5 worst moments. When he came through, more or less, Dean just gave him his boyish grin and Benny shoved him around a little calling him and his brother all kind of things, just on principle for keeping _that tiny bit of intel_ from him. He may or may not "borrowed" a rare Sumerian gold dagger from Dean for his dispenses the next day. However, despite being healed 100 percent from any urge to drain people Creaser had let anyone in the Roadhouse known that that "Lafitte douchebag", which would be him, "could stay away from him" because he suspected that he would "vamp out" eventually. Who does even say that, vamp out? Yeah, Creaser was definitely crazy as crazy could get. Instead of returning the call he called Sam.

The younger Winchester was not Benny's biggest fan because of reasons Benny didn't totally get, mostly co-dependent brother bullshit between Sam and Dean. He long ago accepted that this wasn't on him and they had gone a long way from downright trying to kill each other after Sam hit puberty to respectful nods and awkward smalltalk, anyway. Creaser was Sam's pet, so Benny figured he would know what he wanted from Benny. Maybe cut his head off for good measure.

"Hey," Sam said warily on the other side of the line aiming for casual. "What's up?"

"Creaser called me," Benny just said, not bothering with any form of niceties. He could hear Sam sigh.

"Yeah, about that. He is in Cloverdale, Oregon. Said he treks some kind of wood monster that lures hikers to their death. Dean said the body count checks out, seven dead over the past four months, all men, sucked dry but not in the vampire way. He's over his head there and well, you are the closest to his part of the woods," Sam stopped and waited for the dime to drop.

"How the hell do you know where I am?" it was true, Benny was close to Cloverdale, maybe two hours. He had taken a couple of days off after a Wendigo gig and went fishing in Newport. He preferred the Atlantic over the Pacific anytime, but he caught some decent sized Salmon and Halibut that were now nicely quick-frozen in the back of his camper.

"We maybe put a trekking device on your car," Benny didn't know what to say, but he was sure he could hear Dean laugh in the background.

"Was this your idea?" he drawled with barely contained anger. "Where is it?" he already had pulled over and was getting out of his car ready to find, remove and preferable disintegrate the offensive item.

"It was Garth idea. It helps us organize the hunts, and I think in one of the wheel cases," Benny made quick work checking all of them. Of course it had to be in the last one.

"Alright, Sammy," he said, emphasizing the -my part. "I will go find Creaser and take a look into it and when I am done I am gonna hunt you and Garth down for this. Say hi to your brother for me," with that he hung up and stared at the little grey box. After a quick look around the disserted road he simple dropped it to the ground, draw his .45 Colt 80 and made short work of it. He shook his head while getting back into his car mumbling "fucking Winchesters" under his breath.

A little over two hours later he pulled the camper into the parking lot of a cheap Motel named "Hotel Baudelaire", groaning annoyed about the fact that it seemed to be a hot-sheet hotel. Yeah, Creaser had style. He had no illusions about what the clerk would think when a guy like him asked for someone in the hotel.

The balding guy with the haunted eyes opened the door of his room. Prior Benny got a weird look from a couple who he suspected were a prostitute and her pimp. He shrugged and drawled "Casual encounter on Craigslist" and they just nodded. Sometimes it was just pure joy to be a hunter. He got some texts, but didn't bother to check who wrote him, probably Sam to justify his actions or Garth to apologize, or Dean to give him both their whereabouts.

"Why am I here, Martin," Benny mumbled while walking into the room. Martin had a wall of crazy. Benny eyed it carefully. Cut out News articles of the missing persons, photos of the vics, a big map of the town and the surrounding woods, copies of the coroner and police reports. Good solid work, Benny had to give him that. Benny didn't miss that Martin really tried to keep as much space between them as the room would allow. For a second he flirted with the idea of messing with the guy, maybe staring mesmerized at his pulsepoint and licking his lips, but he still had some fight in him and Benny didn't really want to go out by the hands of a madman with a machete because of a bad joke.

"Because of a Baobhan Sith," Martin blurred out. Dean would now say something like "Gesundheit", Benny just nodded thoughtfully.

"I literally didn't understand half of what you just said," Martin got hectic. He jumped to the cheap plastic table by the window and started to rummage in a couple of manila folders. Before Benny could say anything he was showered with mostly grainy black and white and some colored wood engravings of beautiful women in either white or green dresses, dancing with young men, sucking their blood from their necks or just standing around, some with hooves instead of feet, some with sharp long talons instead of fingernails.

"A Scottish vampire-succubus fairy," Benny groaned a little. Fairies were a pain in the ass. "The Baobhan Sith (it sounded like baa van shee) are beautiful woman that seduce young men in the forest by night to prey on their blood. They only appear at night, in the morning they retreat back into their graves," Martin was very eager to present Benny his progress.

"That's spectacular work," Benny deadpanned. "How do we kill it?"

"I don't know, but I know who she is," Benny raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?"

* * *

Benny rented a room in a small motel outside town. To his surprise Creaser gave him copies of all of results without any protest and Benny used the next couple of hours to sort it and double-checked the facts. Some things were still open. Creaser hadn't talked to the Park Rangers for starters. And there were some strange reports from hikers who claimed they had heard someone singing in the woods and when they tried to follow the sound they were distracted by the sudden appearance of a deer. Well, deer in the woods of Oregon, barely a surprise, but a deer was the reason in 3 of the 4 cases and Benny didn't believe in coincidences. One report he dismissed as downright absurd. The two young men claimed they followed the sound to a clearing when a large black horse tore through the woodwork effectively scaring them away. One of the guys fell and strained his ankle. They had to be rescued by the Park Rangers and were admitted to the nearby hospital. Both had been intoxicated by alcohol and marihuana, they were basically high as balls.

None of the victims, either the dead ones or the witnesses had been women or had been with women. The coroner pictures showed puncture marks "probably made by protrusions or talons" on various body parts. Two victims had them on their necks, two in the soft flesh of the inner thighs and the other three in the groin area. They were sucked completely dry, not an ounce of blood in the boys. Otherwise they were unharmed. Benny had to admit it, Creasers conclusion sounded legit. The only problem was the deer thing, that didn't add up. And he still had no idea how to kill the thing either. Lore said they were closely related to Banshees who you could kill with a gold dagger (that Benny happened to have in his hidden weapon depot, thanks to Dean), but this would actually be a little too easy. The problem with the fae was that although they were more or less coming from the same batch, nothing that worked for one seemed to apply for the other except for the iron thing. Benny couldn't risk stalking through the woods and running into it just to get sucked dry as well because it was totally unfazed by gold. He called Bobby to hit the books for him. After a quick shower he took his car keys and drove the short distance to the diner where, and Martin was sure about that, the Boah…baoh…the fairy worked as a waitress, because this was what the world has come to, fairies waited tables in cheap diners. Creaser had wanted to come, too, but Benny had insisted. If, and this was a big if, the girl in question was the fairy she probably suspected Creaser to be a hunter already. The guy basically admitted that he had spent the last eight nights in the diner "observing" her and he wasn't exactly subtle. And even if the girl wasn't the fairy, Benny didn't want to be associated with the creepy stalker. The diner was clean if not a little jaded and he was greeted by an elderly woman who was a little round around the middle.

"You can sit wherever you want, handsome," she trilled and he had to chuckle. He liked Oregon, people thought he was handsome in Oregon. It was relatively late on a Thursday so the only other guests were a couple basically sitting on top of each other and an older man with a trucker cap drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. He looked at his watch. According to Creaser she worked the night shift every day. She got days of on a random basis, but otherwise you could expect her showing up around 9 p.m. Benny became a victim of Oregonian hospitality, which was basically obtrusion camouflaged as smalltalk. After he ordered a chicken cheese burger with chili fries, a little salad on the side and a ginger ale the woman, Marnie, came over and asked him a couple of questions, mostly were he came from and what he was doing here. He had business with the Sheriff offices and the Park Rangers anyways, so he sort of surprised her with his F.B.I. cover. He had to show her his badge to convince her. The woman, Elli, came in at 8.58 p.m. and sing-songed a melodic "Hey Marnie", before she headed in the back already taking off her coat. Benny didn't get a good look on her, but the evening was young and he hadn't even had his dinner yet. Marnie stood there and looked at the door Elli had disappeared in. Suddenly she snapped her head towards him with a thoughtful frown.

"I tell you something Agent. That girl that just came in? Works her ass off nearly every night since two years now, never a real break, never a little fun, never time for herself. I don't know how the bureau's politics about that are, but if you can make her go out with you for one evening, dinner in a place that didn't just serve things that are fried and maybe a movie you'll eat here for free," Benny actually blushed a little on that. He rubbed his beard.

"Ma'am, that sounds tempting, really, but I can't do that. I'm here on a case, so I would act against the moral code and besides, I'm just passing through. I don't really have time to…get involved," he was just making things up as he went. He couldn't exactly say "Elli might be a blood-sucking fairy and I have to gank her, so I better not take her out on a date." And anyway, the passing through part was true and there was a big difference between picking up a woman from a bar and asking somebody out. Marnie chuckled.

"I'm talking about a meal and a movie, nobody said something about getting involved," she winked and walked away leaving Benny blushing even more. Ten minutes later he got his first good look on her. She put the plate with his burger and a steaming basket of fries down in front of him with a graceful gesture. The kind of fairies he was obviously hunting were also called White Woman of the Highlands because they were fair-skinned, tall and usually dressed in long white dresses. And they were beautiful. This woman, Elli, was beautiful. And fair-skinned. Her arms were longs and slender, she had a delicate figure, fine facial features, big emerald green eyes, soft plush lips and pale skin that looked like porcelain. She moved gracefully and she gave him a wide open smile and looked at him through heavy dark lashes when she asked him if he wanted another ginger ale.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks," he said without missing a beat. He was a hunter since forever and met thousands of different people. He conned and lied his way through life, so a pretty face, ok, a beautiful, gorgeous face, didn't leave him stuttering. He watched her leaving and already was in hunter mode. Fairies burned when touched by iron. Well, he couldn't exactly beat her down with a poker. He could be a total douche, pay the exact amount of money and plant an iron coin on her. He had one that looked just like a quarter. His phone rang. It was Bobby.

"Hey Bobby, what you got?" Benny said popping a fry in his mouth eying her coming back and replacing the empty bottle with a new one. He gave her his most winning smile, the one with the playful smirk in his cornflower blue eyes and she actually looked back to give him a shy smile in return. So they were flirting now, why the hell not?

"Close to jack with a side of squat. Scottish mythology says they burn in sunlight, that's something I guess. They are supposed to crawl back into their grave every morning were they spend the day. They are vulnerable during day time, nearly helpless."

"You mean like in an actual grave, in the earth?"

"Aren't you a smart one? Could be that, could be a hideout somewhere, damn, maybe even an apartment. Close to the woods she is stalking. How's your surveillance job going, by the way?"

"Great, I see her right in front of me and she neither wears white nor is she sporting hooves or talons. She looks kind of regular human to me, pretty, gotta have to give her that," understatement, but Bobby wasn't here, was he. No looking at her, really looking at her, he had to say she also looked tired and overworked.

"Benny, I have to say the more I read about the Baobhan Sith the more worried I get. That's not a one man job. She lures men into her death and the last time I checked, you were a man," there was a weird pause on Benny's side.

"When did you check?"

"Shut up, I bathed your sorry ass since before you could even hold a shotgun. I don't trust Martin Creaser. I will call Dean," Benny sighed dramatically.

"Dean means Sam, Bobby. Besides, Dean isn't a man or what?"

"You guys can keep an eye on each other, that's why I call Dean. I didn't let you puke out your guts in my panic room for shits and giggles so you end up vamp chow anyhow. And don't worry about Sam."

"I'm relieved already. Who says puke anymore? What am I? 12? Okay, call Dean, whatever. I just keep an eye on the girl and figure out a way to find out if she's a fairy or not."

"Fairies burn when touched by iron," Benny rolled his eyes.

"Where would I be without you?"

"Probably dead," Bobby deadpanned. "Wait for Dean before you run into anything guns blazing. And make sure Martin doesn't gank the wrong girl because he got impatient."

"Will do, see you in a couple of days. I've got some fish in my freezer."

"You better hold that promise, son. I'll call if I find something concrete," Bobby hang up without another word and Benny made a quick job of devouring his burger. It was really good. Elli came to pick up the plate.

"Need anything else, Agent?" she asked with a smirk.

"Marnie is a chatty Cathy, isn't she?" he answered.

"Yeah, but you have the cop vibe going, just saying," she smirked and he huffed a laugh.

"I think I'm good. Just the bill, please. Long day ahead of me."

"Doing cop-stuff?"

"Doing cop-stuff," he drowned the rest of his soft drink and rummaged in his wallet. For the second he held the iron quarter in his fingers, than he pulled out two tens. She came back and fidgeted with the receipt.

"Can I ask you something?" she looked around in the diner quickly. He cocked an eyebrow and looked at her expectantly. "Did Marnie offer you free food in return for taking me out?"

"Uhm," eloquent Benny, Bobby was right, he was the smart one. She smirked.

"So, I guess you can keep your money and, well, give me a call, if you want to. I'm Elli, by the way," she put the bill on top of his two tens in front of him and sure enough it had her number on the back. He couldn't even say something, she just walked away quickly, and he was convinced, scared by her own boldness. Well, shit.

* * *

Dean called Benny in the ass crack of dawn to inform him he would be there in the morning of the next day. He didn't say if Sam would be there or not and frankly Benny didn't care. He took a shower and got himself a coffee in a small bakery close to the motel. All the time he toyed with the receipt in his hand. He really shouldn't. The hunter part in him screamed this would be a perfect opportunity to test her for iron (and that there was a fair chance this was a trap), the decent person part said he really, really shouldn't play with someone who, as far as he knew, was a nice girl and hadn't had a date in a while. He didn't get the monster vibe from her, not a bit. He was close on being convinced Martin got enticed by a pretty face. Benny put on his monkey suit and first thing he did was visiting the Sheriff's Office. To Benny's luck two of the four witnesses were locals, regular jacks who liked to camp in the woods when out on hunting trips.

"It was just like a regular night."

"Nothing was unusual, man. I mean, Sir. It was like always, I made a fire, eat what I packed."

"There was a sound, like someone had left on a radio."

"Sounded like a woman singing, you know, just like far far away. Really far."

"I just wanted to check out where it came from. Run around the woods like a madman. It was like, hm, like when you smell something burning and you ran around in the house try to find out what it is?"

"I walked back and forth. I came closer, but I couldn't find the source. It was driving me crazy. I just couldn't stop."

"I couldn't stop looking."

"There was this rustling in the woodwork and then this doe just stepped out. Right in front of me."

"Man, I mean, Sir, this doe was creepy. Just stepped from behind a tree and stared at me, like it was seizing me up or something."

 _"Did you get the feeling it wanted to attack you? Did you feel threatened?"_

"No, not really. I mean, it made a couple of steps towards me, but then it just walked away in the direction were I thought the music came from. The music had stopped then. I basically ran to my camp side, packed my stuff and got the hell out of dodge. Feel stupid about it now, I mean it were just some campers somewhere else with a radio and then a deer."

"This will sound totally crazy."

 _"Try me."_

"Well, it came to me and then it made these movements with his head, like it waved me away, like it urged me to leave. It was almost intelligent. The music was gone, the doe ran off and I ran away, too."

"Was there anything else unusual about the deer? Anything would help."

"Yeah, it was freaking huge, almost like a stag. The does are usually rather small."

"I think it was bigger than the does I've seen before and, I mean it was dark, but I could've sworn it was black."

Benny sorted his notes while he had lunch in a small pizza place. There was one explanation that would made sense off the reports. He dialed Bobby's number.

"It's two things," he said between bites of pizza.

"Come again?" he heard Bobby mumble, and the sounds of bottles. Benny took a look on his watch. It wasn't even four in the afternoon in South Dakota.

"Your daytime drinking gets a little bit out of control, don't you think?"

"You wanna lecture me or you wanna explain what you mean by it's two things?"

"There is the fairy thingy preying on males and then there is some kind of magic fallow deer stalking around, warning them."

"A deer?"

"A doe, to be precise. A huge, black doe. I'm even willing to admit that the two pottheads ran into it, too, they just thought it was a horse because they were high as a kite."

"Hm, let me come back to you. I think I read something about a deer. I hit the books and call you back. Figured out if the waitress is our monster, yet?"

"No," Benny rubbed his beard and turned the receipt again he was still fidgeting with. "But I have an idea."

He quickly dialed the number she had written on the back of the bill. For a second he worried if he would wake her up, she worked the night shift after all. After three rings she picked up. She didn't sound sleepy.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, hi, here is Agent Barnes, from the diner yesterday. How do you feel about a meal and a movie?"

* * *

He had some time to kill before he would pick her up at 7 so he paid the ranger station a visit. The Ranger was an older man around 50 with a friendly face and soft spoken. Benny could tell that he was somehow devastated about the seven deaths in the last months and that he had no idea what could have done this. His best guess was some sort of psycho serial killer. Despite the occasional rogue cougar or bear that got a bit too bold for their own good and roamed the streets nothing unusual ever happened in the surrounding woods.

Back in the hotel he spent a couple of hours doing research, but he never really got the whole online thing going. Give him some old tombs and a notebook and he was fine. The internet was another matter. He was in the middle of trimming his beard when his phone rang. He was getting grey already. Fair enough, he was pushing 40, but this really could have waited a couple more years. At least the grey was confined to the beard.

"My best guess: a Púca," Bobby rumbled and Benny groaned, another of those weird fairy creatures. "It's a Celtic forest spirit. There is not much known about it, and some of it is contradictory. They are described as either malicious or benevolent, but as far as I can tell they are mostly on the good side, doing chores for farmers, giving advice, helping folks lost in the woods to find their way back. Either way they are shapeshifter who can take any animal form, but usually change into a horse, a goat, a rabbit or a deer. Their fur is always black. They are related to Kelpies and it is believed that they have some kind of hidden, magical spring or pond from which they get their power," Benny hummed.

"So, we have a Scottish, bloodsucking fairy who lures young men into an early grave and then there is a Celtic wood-spirit who may or may not be well-disposed running around in the form of a big black whatever. Can this Púca take a human form?"

"Lore says it can. If it helps, they are believed to be great cooks," Benny huffed a laugh. You gotta love folklore, between all the scary crap it never ceased to give you awkward fun facts. "And they can speak in their animal form. No other animal-shapeshifter can do that."

"So I just have to look for the talking deer. Basically I look for Bambi. So how would I harm it? Apply fairy rules? Iron?"

"Guess so, and if there really is a magic pond messing with it would do the trick."

"What, like poisoning it? That's kind of mean."

"It's a tough job. Don't do anything stupid, son."

"I do stupid all the time, Bobby," like going on a date with a suspect.

"Stupid like going into the woods trying to fraternize with the Púca."

"I wouldn't do that," that was so something he would do.

"At least wait for Dean," Bobby murmured. "Take care."

"Will do."

* * *

Ten minutes after 7 he pulled his camper on a parking lot in front of a convenience store. She stood in the entrance of a store the collar of her coat pushed up to shield her from the wind.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said with an apologetic smile. He indeed felt guilty he let her stand in the cold for over 10 minutes, the weather was shit. She didn't seem to mind.

"That's okay. I didn't think you bailed on me," she smiled at him. "So, the F.B.I. lets agents drive around in a camper?" Benny just shrugged. He got this question a lot. By that time he could deliver the answer so confidently no one second-guessed him anymore. Dean's Impala raised more questions.

"It's like a moving field office, has everything I need. Internet, printer, surveillance equipment, a place to crash if need be. When you mostly work in towns like this, mighty useful," he said nonchalantly. She bought it, better every time. They went to a not overly romantic (thank god) Italian restaurant. He was surprised no one actually recognized her. It was a small town with only so many restaurants and diners. Usually people knew each other at least by sight. Another proof that she didn't go out much (the diner at night wasn't really a hot spot) and he felt a little guiltier about the fact that he mostly just invited her because he needed to get some iron on the woman. That sounded wrong even in his head. They ordered some pasta dishes and whine, because Benny could be classy on occasion, although his glass remained untouched, and talked about a lot of stuff. Benny tried to ask question without falling into interrogation mode, though he kind of suspected this would get away with it considering he went with the F.B.I. cover. He could blame it on being a cop. She was 32, single mom of a five year old boy, which solidified his initial thought that she was a lot, but not a fairy, widowed, moved here two years ago after her husband died, and worked the nightshift because it would give her time to spend with her son in the afternoon when she picked him up from kindergarten. Benny wasn't one for pity. He was only three years old when a demon ripped apart his Mom and Dad in front of him. A grumpy hunter had bulged in, exorcised the demon, and took him in after because he had nowhere to go. In hindsight Benny sometimes wondered about the sentiment, but he was grateful Bobby hadn't dropped in off in some foster care. He had been a troubled teenager and only god knew where Benny would be now, if it weren't for Bobby. Benny had forgotten the faint memories of his parents' screams and all the blood until the very demon came back and made Benny remember. Forcefully. He cut him down this time, watching the every fascinating lightshow of a dying demon until there was nothing left than an empty meatsuit, and didn't feel the satisfaction he hoped he would feel. So he didn't give her the pity face and the comforting words, and she seemed to appreciate that. They all had their baggage to carry. He kept his story as close to the truth as possible, although he stuck to the fake last name, would be weird to change this, wouldn't it? Benjamin Barnes ("Like what actor now?"), 37, adopted by a grumpy scrap yard owner in South Dakota, on the job what felt like his whole life. He admitted that he had a grandfatherly taste in music and movies, she told him her son was obsessed with Star Wars so she pretty much had to watch the movies in a loop, but that she enjoyed reading. They both agreed they were kind of boring. The moment he finally had a chance to test her for iron-vulnerability came when they stood in front of the ticket booth of the little cinema of Cloverdale and Benny fished out his wallet nearly losing an expensive looking fob watch. The body was iron, the chain was silver, and so he could cover both with one strike. She caught in easily and let the chain run through her fingers before she pressed the watch back in his hands. Her palm felt soft and warm and she maybe kept contact a little too long while looking in his eyes. Relief washed over him and the tension he didn't even know he had felt drained out of his body. So all set. Might as well enjoy the rest of the night, now that he knew for a fact that he wasn't on a date with some sort of blood kink sex fairy. The movie was stupid, even by his standards and he wouldn't claim to be the sophisticated type, but he enjoyed eying her cautiously. In the light of the silver screen she sure looked older than 32, but it didn't change that she was hauntingly beautiful, especially her green eyes. He always found Cas bright blue eyes unsettling, but he was kind of mesmerized by hers. She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow on him.

"Sorry," he mumbled but to his surprise she took his hand instead. Benny had one serious relationship in his life and it crashed and burned spectacular. This woman was the only woman Benny ever held hands with. He wasn't some kind of asshole that used women only for sex and be done with them, he just didn't do attachment, didn't do relationships, and holding hand was a couple thing. And so naturally every time a woman after Andrea had done something like remotely trying a couple thing he had shut down that shit, no exceptions. But Elli's hand in his felt oddly…right. Great, so he was in a RomCom now, the kind with a monster back story. For a second he wondered if there were such movies. This was a good idea, actually.

Sooner than he would have liked he stood in front of her little house in bungalow style. It was the last one in a quiet dead end street on the outskirts of town. He could see the forest dark and eerie in a not so far away distance. It smelled like forest, too, clean, mossy and rich and he could hear an owl screech. Didn't give him exactly the chills.

"So," she said facing him with a smirk. "Listen, I don't delude myself here. In a couple of days you be gone, I do know that. But I like you, a lot, and my kid isn't here until I pick him up tomorrow morning, so," she put her index fingers in his belt loops and pulled him a little closer. Not close enough that their bodies touched, but close enough to get the message across. She smelled nice. "You wanna come in?"

He leaned a little forward and their lips met. Kissing her might be his new favorite thing. After what could have been a minute or an hour he pulled back and smiled against her lips.

"You know I'm classy," he said softly and she chuckled.

"I promise I will still respect you in the morning. I'm throwing in some pancakes to sweeten the pot," he looked in her eyes and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"You kind of had me at 'so'."

* * *

Benny didn't really know when he last time woke up by someone kissing his nape. It definitely sent the right kind of shivers down his back. The last night was, well. It probably was one of the best first times he ever had, if not the best. No awkward fumbling and embarrassing moments, no holding back or trying too hard, it was just … good.

"What time is it?" he mumbled when she kept teasing his neck with a little bit of teeth.

"6:30," her voice was husky from sleep and he could feel the cool feathery touch of her hair on his back. A bit of tongue joined the teeth. This was definitely going somewhere. "So if you want to do your daily dozen before pancakes, now is the time," he laughed into the pillow.

"You say the most romantic things," he rolled on his back and pulled her over him.

The Impala stood in front of his motel room. Benny opened the door and was greeted by the barrel of Deans .45 Colt.

"Good morning honey, I'm home," he drawled and closed the door with one foot.

"The hell have you been, man? There's a man luring, bloodsucking killer fairy on the loose and you decide to go MIA?" Dean asked him aggressively putting his gun back.

"I think I decided to go AWOL. These terms aren't interchangeable."

"Don't be a smartass," Dean pulled Benny in a hug. "You smell like sex."

"It is so nice of you to notice that. I'm gonna take a shower," Benny rummaged in his duffel.

"You better. Next time you can at least send me a text. Was he hot?" Benny flipped Dean off and slammed the bathroom door shut. 15 minutes later Dean was munching happily on a croissant from the adjacent bakery.

"I can't believe she made you breakfast. And you actually stayed long enough to eat it. How the slutty have fallen," he mumbled between bites. "So she isn't the fairy. One down, 1000 to go. What's the plan? Check out the woods?"

"Yeah, the crime scenes if you wanna put it that way. As long as it's day we are safe. Maybe we run into Snapes patronus."

"I knew you watched the movies," Dean gave Benny a triumphant look.

"Shut up, I read the books you moron. I start to miss Sam. He would bitch-faced you to shut up."

"You, sir, are more than relieved he isn't here," Dean flipped through the pages of Martin's research. "You shouldn't be in danger anyway. You are not exactly young anymore," he smirked.

"You have like 3 years to me, chief, ain't exactly a leg to stand on. And the oldest vic was 42, so. I deem your argument invalid."

"Sure, but he looked younger. That's worth something. I don't think she stalks towards us and says "Show me some I.D.". Just in case I have like 50 rounds of iron buckshots in the trunk. If she shows we could at least burn a lot of holes into her. Bobby and you sure the other thing, the Púca, is one of the nice ones?"

"Both witnesses I talked to said they didn't feel threatened and the lore says there are mostly good."

"Mostly?"

"Yeah, some lore says they are man-hunting killer goblins."

"Awesome. Okay, can we get some real food before we go on a hike in the woods?"

Little more than two hours later Benny pulled the camper on a parking lot near Ray Creek, the part of the forest were the bodies were found. It was an overcast day, humid and foggy, perfect to stalk through the woods all day. They buckled up and entered the woods equipped with a map and a compass, 2 hunting rifles, both their handguns, and 2 saw off 12 gauge pump actions. Benny hoped they wouldn't run into someone. It was always a pain in the ass to explain what the hell they thought they were hunting, the British Resistance?

"That's just like the old days," Dean broke the silence between them after nearly one hour hiking along a hunting trail.

"You mean the good old paramilitary training days or the actual hunting trips with Bobby?"

"Both I guess. Do you remember this one time when Dad and Bobby told us to pretend we lost the trail and let Sammy find the way on his own? He was so pissed because he knew we were just pretending, but he found the way," Benny chuckled.

"Yeah, he didn't stop bitching about it the whole time. I mean come on, it was obvious. How old were we? He was like seven, so you were 11 and I was 14? I went on hunts already. He knew I wouldn't lose a trail. Or you."

"Good times. How long to the first crime scene? Who finds bodies here anyway?"

"Search and Rescue. They actually told someone that there were around these parts."

"Did we tell someone?" Dean asked with a frown. "Should we have told someone?" Benny laughed.

"Before you ran off screaming, Bobby knows, more or less. Come on, couple more miles then we are in the hot zone," 40 minutes later Dean kicked some rocks and grass obviously disappointed. They had searched the area in an expanding radius for 20 minutes now. The last victim had been found 9 days ago and they didn't even found any evidence that a search party had been there and these tend to leave scorched earth. They split up for another half an hour.

"Yeah, I've got nothing," Dean took a little zip from his water bottle and sat on a trunk in a middle of a little clearing. "I'm not sure what I expected anyway. A grave with a neon sign tomb stone would have been nice," he groaned when he got up again. His back made some serious popping noises when he stretched.

"What was that with me being old, chief?" Benny smirked. "You should take care of you more, start to work out, eat a little healthier," Dean gave Benny a stink eye.

"You must talk. Let's head back! We only have like three hours of daylight left. This here was officially a bust," Benny agreed and they made their way back in companionable silence. After half an hour or so they stepped out of the woods onto a little clearing with a trunk in the middle.

"Well, shit," Benny huffed.

"Did we just get lost?"

"We don't do lost," Benny pulled out his compass and walked around a little humming under his breath. "Huh," was his eloquent remark when he closed the lit and threw the thing in Dean's direction. "How high you think are the odds that the magnetic north pole just shifted to Oregon?" Dean opened the compass and watched the needle spin around aimlessly with an annoyed frown.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled into the dark woods in general to release some tension. "Looks like someone doesn't want us to leave. Did that happen before," Benny shrugged.

"It's not like the dead could give a statement."

"Fair enough, so now what?"

"We could walk around a bit, see if we can find another way. But something tells me we will just end up here again."

"So hunker down and wait for her hoping she doesn't expect us to fight back? Maybe we can at least raise a little hell before we become her personal blood bags," Dean joked humorlessly and leant his rifle on the trunk. This would be a long evening.

* * *

It was dark for a while now and neither of them had said anything since Dean pointing out that they should have brought something to eat. It was cold and humid. Benny was deep in his thoughts, most revolved around the fact that they would probably die tonight, some revolved around a certain woman with emerald green eyes, and one particular thought revolved around that humid was a weird sounding word.

"Do you hear that?" Dean suddenly asked effectively dragging Benny out of his head. Dean sat straight and tilted his head. Benny listened. He could hear something, it sounded like a wailing in the distance.

"Sounds like wind, or an animal," Benny mumbled, but Dean wouldn't have it.

"No, no. It's music," Benny stared at Dean with a frown. He looked…strange. His face was slack and totally blank and his eyes had a vacant expression.

"Dean?" he asked the man and put a hand on his elbow.

"It's music, Benny. It's beautiful," suddenly Dean jumped up. "I need to find it," with that he just took off, more or less ran into the woods. Benny cursed under his breath and ran after him. Dean didn't even take his guns with him. The wood was dense and it was dark and not before long Benny lost sight of Dean but he could still hear him stumbling through the brushwork gracelessly.

"Dean?" Benny yelled. He paused for just a second to orientate. The wailing was louder than before. Dean didn't answer. "That can't be good," Benny said to himself and ran in the direction of the crying. After what was definitely too long for Benny's taste he stumbled out of the woods and cursed rather creatively when he stepped into a creek. Ice-cold water ran into his boots. The wailing was loud enough to hurt his ears. It took him a second to spot Dean. He stood maybe 100 feet downriver with the back to Benny. His posture was relaxed, almost like he was asleep on his feet and he waved back and forth a little.

"Dean?" Benny walked slowly in Dean's direction, careful not to startle him or anything. Halfway there he could see her. The moon had come out, great sense for dramatic timing, and her pale and skinny figure was illuminated by eerie, white light. She looked disgustingly ugly. She was thin like a skeleton with slimy, whitish skin hanging from her bones, large patches disfigured by ulcers and eczema. Her hair, the bit that she had at least, was dirty and grey. Wet strains hang into her face and over her boney shoulders like spider webs. The dress she wore used to be white at some point, but was now reduced to ragged tatters that did a bad job in covering her body. One breast was exposed, not much more that a lappet, and to Benny's horror one of her naked feet was deformed to resemble something that looked like a hoof. The terrible wail came out of her toothless mouth that gawped open way to wide to be acceptable in public. Her eyes were just black beads. She shuffled around Dean awkwardly. Suddenly the wail stopped and she pulled Dean closer grabbing his jacket with her claws and kissed him. Benny nearly threw up. Dean on the other hand melted into the kiss with a blissful moan. He obviously was hexed somehow and Benny could just imagine who he thought kissed him right now.

"Hey!" he called out to her raising the barrel of his shotgun in her direction. She pulled away from Dean and stared at Benny. She actually seemed surprised. With an animalistic hiss she jumped faster than Benny would have expected in his direction. He put two rounds of iron buckshot into her stomach. The reaction came instantly. She screamed in pain and clawed her own stomach when the iron started to burn the flesh around the pellets. The inhumane sounds hang in the air for some seconds after she just disappeared into thin air. Benny reloaded his shotgun with a swift move and turned slowly in a circle. He expected her to be back any second launching her counter attack. What he didn't expect was Dean. The younger man first stood there in startled horror that quickly turned into sheer desperation. He mumbled incoherently and pulled his own hair until his head finally snapped to Benny. There was not a hint of recognition in his eyes, just rage. Benny didn't even have time to brace himself. Dean tackled him with a feral grunt and Benny hit the stony ground hard. For a second he wasn't able to breathe because Dean had pressed all the air out of lungs. Benny was stronger than Dean and had at least 30 pounds on him, most of it muscle, but Dean had the element of surprise and the brute force of unadulterated wrath on his side. He hit Benny hard with his fist in the face, one time, two times and Benny could hear bones cracking, unsure if it were his or Deans. Benny could reflect the third blow and somehow scissored Deans waist with one leg, straddled him and suddenly he was on top. He caught Deans wrist after Dean tried to grab the collar of his jacket and managed to press his arms onto his chest, pinning him to the ground mostly with his own bodyweight.

"Stop it," Benny pressed out between his teeth, but Dean just kept writhing under him in a useless attempt to free himself. Benny was grabbed by the neck with a clawlike hand that wrapped around his nape in an iron grip, sharp talons piercing him deep in the flesh, and thrown across the clearing effortlessly. He hit a tree shoulder first and landed hard on the ground. For a second he didn't know where he was and what he was doing here. His shoulder hurt like a motherfucker. Dislocated crossed his mind. Someone pulled him up on his arm and he screamed in pain. She pushed him with his back against a tree. White pain let his leg buckle and Benny somehow just dropped back to the ground. There was a moment of silence. He couldn't see, his blood rushed through his ears, his whole left side was one piece of throbbing pain and he felt the warmth and wetness of blood running over the left side of his face. He felt someone straddle his lap and he gaged when her stench hit him like a brickwall. When he opened his eyes he was greeted by her face closer to his own than he would ever wished it to be. Her eyes looked like dead little lumps of coal and her mouth was twisted into something that could have been a smile. He stared at her with a look he hoped was menacing. She let one clawed finger glide from his lower body over his right side to the middle of his chest where she started to tap it in a steady rhythm with a strangely thoughtful expression.

"I cannot harm you," she said. He voice was screechy and she had halitosis from hell. Benny nearly laughed. She had just thrown him like 40 feet against a tree, he was hurt plenty.

"Did something crawl into your mouth and died there? Get off me you ugly bitch," he tried to shove her away, but his left side wouldn't allow it.

"You can see my true form," she stated with something like awe in her voice. Like this has never happened before.

"Well, seems like the inner values are really what makes someone attractive," he chuckled. He suddenly felt very tired. "Just go ahead and kill me."

"I can't," she snapped, but then she grinned. "But he can," she stood up and stepped away from him in a more elegant way he would have expected. Dean stood behind her and Benny just sighed. He should have knocked him out. Dean's face was blank and emotionless like before he suddenly took off. Rather mechanically he walked towards Benny and closed his hands around his throat. Getting suffocated was a shitty way to go out. Benny did his best to defend himself, but Dean had a better leverage. Benny kicked aimlessly in the air and tried to remove Dean's fingers from his throat, but it was useless. His vision already started to blur and he felt dizzy, the rising panic was slowly replaced by calmness. Maybe it would be okay, he could just close his eyes and the pain would be gone. He could faintly hear some kind of roar in the background followed by a high-pitched shriek. He nearly forgot to breathe at last so surprised was he when Dean was ripped away from him. The first few breaths hurt like hell and all Benny could do was lean against the tree and pant until his vision and part of his brains would come back. When he finally managed to acknowledge his surroundings he was greeted by a scene that was surreal at best. Dean lay on his back and there was a fucking Black Panther towering over him with his jaws tightly set around Dean's throat. The beast wasn't squeezing, it was just holding him that way, a friendly reminder that Dean was just a jerk with the head or a little squeeze with the jaw away from getting killed for good. Benny pushed himself up and stood against the tree taking in the scene without being able to make sense out of it. He held his left shoulder and made a step towards the animal and Dean. They eyes of the large cat snapped to Benny and he stopped. They were greenish and despite an orange glow strangely human. Benny could see that the head was too round, the ears not pointed enough, and the tail too short for it to be a Jaguar or a Cheetah, this was a Cougar. A freakish big, tarry black Cougar that gave him a simple small shake of his head to signal him not to come closer. Benny just couldn't anymore, he sat on the ground. The shotgun laid somewhere on the other side of the clearing. If the cat wanted to kill him or Dean there was not much he could do about it anymore. All he could hope for was that the Púca was on their side, although it currently threatened to Columbian necktie Dean.

After what seemed to be a very long time the Cougar stepped back carefully and placed itself between Benny and Dean. Dean laid there like a dead man for a couple of minutes until he seemed to realize that he was free. He jerked up and crawled a couple of feet backwards.

"Benny?" he asked softly. They guy was spooked.

"I'm here, brother," Benny tried not to breathe too deeply. Not only his shoulder but also his rib cage hurt like a bitch, best case scenario he had some bruised ribs, worst case they were broken.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Bottom line? The fairy bewitched you, you tried to kill me, the Púca saved us both," Dean stared at Benny horrified for a second, but then he seemed to remember that there was a huge cat standing not 6 feet away from him who just had its teeth around his throat.

"Uhu," was all he could manage to say. The Cougar lifted his head and scented the air. It started elegantly to make a round along the perimeter of the clearing leaving the two men alone. Dean hurried to Benny and knelt next to him. "Shit, Benny. Was that me?" He patted Benny's torso down with skilled professionalism.

"Nah, you were just the shiner and the strangle marks, everything else is courtesy of the Baobhan Sith," Benny sighed when he saw Deans' expression. "This isn't your fault. How much do you remember anyway," Benny winced when Dean reset his shoulder without any notice. The Púca turned to him and growled a warning.

"I heard music, and, I don't know. I really wanted to find it and the next thing I knew is that I was on the ground with teeth on my throat. This," he nodded to the Cougar who had lay down and sort of glowed at them. "Makes me all kinds of uncomfortable."

"I don't get the feeling she is any danger for us. She just restrained you until the spell wore off," Benny mumbled. Dean checked the cut on Benny forehead.

"She? To assume she is a she because she is a fairy is kind of sexist," Benny chuckled than he shrugged and groaned. He shouldn't have moved his shoulders.

"I have a feeling it's a she."

"Can you stand up? You are bruised up pretty bad, man, and I don't know how far away from the car we are. Or the town. Or where we are in general," He pulled Benny up and put his arm over his shoulder. Benny groaned. "I think you have a concussion, too. We need to get you out of here. I hope I don't regret that," he turned them to the Cougar. "Uhm, hi. Thanks for, you know, saving us. I guess. You cannot by any chance help us to find the quickest way out of here, and maybe not eat us?" Benny gave Dean a look. The large cat got up gracefully and trotted towards them. It brushed along Deans legs (its shoulder nearly reached his hip) and he tensed. The cat walked away, stopped to look at them, and kept walking.

"I think she wants us to follow," Dean mumbled. The way back was a bitch. Benny felt nauseous, dizzy and breathing got harder and harder every minute. That he was awake for nearly 24 hours now and hadn't eaten in over 16 didn't help. Dean wasn't complaining but half carrying a nearly 6 feet 1 and 200 pound guy through the woods was getting to him as well. The Púca tried its best to choose easy ways where they only stumbled half of the time. To say it was already bright daylight would have been an exaggeration, it was more an overcast, foggy, gloomy Saturday morning, but finally Dean and Benny staggered out of the woods. The Púca was gone. They stood on a pasture with a disinterested looking horse adjacent to a small cluster of cute, little houses.

"I know where we are," Benny said. He knew the street because he had spent the last night in the first house they would pass when they would walk to their motel eventually. Well, the night before last night. He can't believe that was only one and a half day ago. "What time is it?"

"Around 7," they both knew that their chances to walk across town without raising the one or other eyebrow where close to nothing which let them sigh in unison.

"How far is the motel?"

"Four miles, give or take."

"Awesome."

Benny was relieved when they passed Elli's bungalow without someone stepping out demanding what was going on. Not that the stakes were that high that something like that would happen in the first place, but still, relieved he was. Two streets later a green Skoda Fabia passed them and broke to a sudden halt, screeching tires and all. Dean looked at Benny and Benny at Dean.

"Should we…run?"

"Can you run?" they turned to the car. Benny made a sound between a groan, a sigh and something that was most definitely not a little happy sound. Dean stared at him for a split second. Elli got out of the car, her hair in a messy pony tail, in a tight blue jeans and a washed out sweater, and to Dean and Benny's surprise, with a shotgun in her hand. She wasn't charging, but she managed to look intimidating enough. Dean let go of Benny and made some steps towards her.

"Woah, Lady, relax," she frowned

"I'm not not relaxed. Benny, you alright? Who is this?" Dean turned to Benny and mouthed a What the hell?

"I'm fine, we just. I had a little accident in the woods," she doesn't look convinced.

"Did you run accidentally into a fist shaped tree? Multiple times?"

"Something like that. This is my partner, Agent," Benny wondered for a second what Deans fake I.D. would say these days. "Crosby," she actually sported a face saying she called his bullshit.

"Get in the car," she just said already halfway on the driver seat. Dean didn't even hesitate.

"Where do you always meet those people, Benny?"

* * *

Benny made inventory of his injuries. His shoulder was okay, but would be stiff for a couple of days. He was quiet sure he had one broken rib. The cut on his hairline needed to be cleaned but otherwise stiches wouldn't be necessary. His right eye was black and blue, but not swollen. That was a plus. His bottom lip was split, basically just a boo boo. He had somehow managed to get a cut on his left thigh. It wasn't deep. Over all he would live, although he knew his whole body would be one aching piece of pain after he slept for a while. He was dead tired. There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Are you shy, Benny? I saw you naked 24 hours ago," she smirked. Benny was stripped down to his underwear and had moved a little awkwardly when she had opened the door. She threw a little plastic bottle to him and he caught it despite…everything. "Take two. It's the good stuff," she winked at him. "And then you take a shower, a long, hot one. You don't exactly smell like roses."

"Elli, I don't want to impose."

"Hey, I'm offering. And besides, I'm pretty sure Annie from Misery was an Oregonian. So maybe all this is just a ploy to tie a sexy F.B.I. agent in my bed," he heard her chuckle when she closed the bathroom door. The hot shower was heaven. Dean, who was in a significantly better shape than Benny, had offered to walk to the motel, grab a shower himself and return with a change of clothes to pick up Benny. Benny had reluctantly agreed. He showered too long to be socially acceptable, but he was too tired to care. When he stepped out of the bathroom into her bed room she unceremoniously made him sit on her bed.

"Sexy times," she said, waving a box with alcohol pads in front of his face. "So, any chance you tell me what the hell is going on?" Benny pulled a face when she started to disinfect the gash on his thigh.

"You really don't wanna know."

"This wasn't your partner, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't."

"Good," he was surprised when she straddled his lap and started to clean the cut on his forehead. "He looks like you could take him on. I would have been surprised, and a little disappointed. You are not in trouble, are you?" he sighed.

"I don't know. I'm always in some kind of trouble. Nothing you should worry about, though," he gave her something he hoped was a reassuring smile. She frowned, but wasn't pushing it. He decided to use a divergence technique. "Where is your son?" a soft private smile appeared on her face.

"They call it Forest Kindergarten, every third weekend in the month. They learn nature stuff, camping and what plants you can eat, and how to build a fire, no hunting, though. They are too young for killing Bambi."

"You know you kill Bambi's mother, right?" he said with a serious face and she laughed.

"You are a dick," she said. He pulled her in for a kiss. Hey, he nearly died a couple of hours ago. He could have some stolen, celebratory kisses with a hot woman. This would have become way hotter than it actually was if he weren't so tired. She smirked against his lips.

"You should sleep," she mumbled between small butterfly kisses. He could get used to this.

"Dean will be here in a couple of minutes."

"I don't care, you need to rest. Come on," she somehow manhandled him to lie on the bed and pulled a blanket over him. It took maybe 3 minutes for him to drift off, all while he enjoyed the feeling of slender fingers running through his hair.

Benny woke up with a start. He had no idea where he was. All he knew was that the bedsheet was too soft, the room smelled too good and the mattress was too comfortable for it to be a motel room. It all crashed down on him. He pulled the blanket over his head like the little girl he obviously was groaning with embarrassment. He had no real idea why he was embarrassed, mostly because he felt asleep in her bed during daytime. His clothes lay next to the bed on a chair. His gaze was caught by a picture of Elli hugging a little boy with the same green eyes from behind, her son. He had no idea what his name was, although he probably should. Benny prepared himself for the inevitable pain in his body, the ache in every muscle, the moment he would get out of the bed, but when his feet hit the carpet he felt surprisingly good. He stretched his back and his rib cage stung a little, the gash on the thigh itched, the maybe/maybe not concussion was a slight background ache in his head, but that was it. No sore muscles, no stiff joints, he could even move his shoulder.

"Huh," was what he said when he dressed. The house smelled good, spicy and hearty, like a good, solid home cooked meal. Turned out it was a home cooked meal.

"Hey, thought you'd been in a coma or something. You slept like a dead," Dean sat in the living room on a recliner eating stew from a bowl. The T.V. was on, but it was muted. "Wow, you uh … look okay. The eye looks better," Dean smiled shyly. He still blamed himself.

"How long was I out?" he was kind of surprised when Dean jumped up, ran into the next room and came back with a second bowl of steaming stew. It smelled amazing. Dean shoved it in his hands and nearly pushed him to sit in an armchair.

"About 8 hours? You kind of needed it," Benny took a bite and moaned. It tasted amazing, too. "Right? Try not to mess this up. This woman is awesome. Not only is she super cool to take in some shady looking beat up guys, the food, man. This is easily one of the best dishes I ever had. And when you said she was good looking I expected an Oregon 7, not a L.A. 9," Benny gave him a scolding look.

"Where is she, anyway?"

"Running errands. So, Bobby is on his way here," Benny looked up.

"Why?"

"Why? You know why. First we need help, we almost got killed. Second, you are his son, and you almost got killed."

"He isn't sentimental like that."

"Keep dreaming. So?"

"So what?"

"When will you tell me what happened last night," Benny tensed.

"No idea what you mean," he mumbled and busied himself with more food. Dean stared at him.

"You saw her, didn't you? And you heard her, too. She messed with me. Why didn't she mess with you? And I don't mean the beating up part."

"I don't know. Honestly, no idea. She seemed surprised as well. I," he stopped.

"What?" Dean looked at Benny in anticipation.

"Do you remember how she looked like?" Dean frowned.

"Yeah, most of it came to me after a while. I," Dean sighed. "Honestly I've never seen a woman more beautiful," Benny nodded.

"I think she looks different for everybody, you know. Something like your idea of the perfect woman, but she has a true form. A form you usually don't see. And I kind of saw that," Dean snorted.

"Let me guess. She wasn't pretty?"

"Not a bit. And she said she couldn't kill me. That surprised her as well."

"Yeah, that's weird. What is so special about you? Maybe Bobby has an idea. We should lay low until he's here. You need the rest anyway. I figured he's kind of immune to her, because he is so old," Dean grinned. "He could keep an eye on me, just in case I need someone to keep my ducks in the row."

"Dean, it wasn't you who attacked me."

"I know. Doesn't hurt though to have someone around who wouldn't hesitate to put some rounds of rock salt into me, just in case."

"Yeah, but do you? Know, I mean?" they stopped to the sound of a car pulling in the driveway of the small house. She came in with a grocery bag in her arms. Her face lit up when she saw Benny up and running. Dean saw that, too. He jumped up and took the paper bag from her. He did it with so much determination that Benny suspected he would have wrestled with her if she wouldn't have let it go.

"Let me help you with that. That's the least I can do," he grinned and ran off to the kitchen. She was a little stunned.

"Yeah, sure, thanks, well," she turned to Benny with a wide smile. "How are you? You sure look better," she sat down on the spot previously occupied by Dean.

"I feel way better than expected. Thanks, you know, for letting me stay over, for the food," he lifted the bowl a little. Elli shrugged.

"Believe it or not, it was my pleasure. I really enjoy having you around, passed out or not. Or even Dean. It's nice to talk to someone who isn't 5," she looked in the general direction of the kitchen and continued a little softer. "Though there is not that much of a difference," Benny laughed on that.

"He's growing on you after a while."

"You should eat more. Dean said you haven't eaten since yesterday morning," she took his bowl and looked at him expectantly. He squint his eyes a little.

"Thanks, but I'm good. Uhm, what else did Dean tell you?" he asked carefully. Not that he expected Dean to spill the beans, but sometimes he let civilians into their secrets, usually the ones somehow involved in all the nightmare, but on occasion people he liked enough.

"That you checked out the places where they found the bodies, got lost and then something about you falling down somewhere," she told him like she would buy it, but he wasn't convinced. He wouldn't push. Dean came back.

"So, Elli, it was great to meet you. Thanks for letting me watch The Lego Star Wars movie," Elli wiggled her eyebrow a little into Benny's direction saying See? Like a 5 year old. "And for the stew, this was amazing. I head out. Benny?" Benny looked up. He actually was disappointed, but they had to leave at some point.

"Yeah, just let me grab my stuff."

"Oh, that's not what I meant. You know Elli here as the night off again and the specialist isn't in before tomorrow around noon, so I thought you two…lovebirds could hang out a bit and do your thing. Honestly I could use a little me time for myself," with that Dean was halfway out, but he came back. "Don't worry, Benjamin. I brought your toothbrush," he walked out again and stepped back a second time. "Oh and…you wanna get funky, wrap your monkey," he laughed and left a groaning Benny behind.

"I am so, so sorry. I would say he usually isn't that way, but I would be lying," she sat there barely containing a laugh.

"You know, I think he already grew on me."

* * *

Benny had been pleasantly relaxed. It had been an incredible nice afternoon and evening with stuff Benny, in lack of better words, would call entirely domestic. They had watched a movie, they had cuddled on the couch (in between serious teenager make out sessions), there had been more stew, and of course they had been sex, a lot Benny might say. It was so nice just to pretend for a while. He had slept 9 hours, 9! This was like 30 for a hunter, and in a real bed. And in the morning he had made breakfast. Both made no illusions, though. Bobby was here and maybe Dean and he would get the job done. If so, they would head out in a couple of days. He had promised not to just disappear on her, but to say at least goodbye, properly. So he had been a little sad, but mostly he had been content and relaxed and everything had been washed away by Sam fucking Winchester swaying through the room like the world largest metronome, gesturing and bellowing like their plan was the worst plan ever. Benny found it not just a little vexing. The argument between Sam's may or may not justified concerned was a broken record and sooner or later Sam would drag Benny into it, he who never ever did anything to earn Sam's ever present condescension.

"You cannot seriously considering this, Bobby?" The older man with the ballcap just grunted something. He wasn't in the best mood since Dean obviously exaggerated Benny's condition on the phone. Bobby had driven 26 hours straight because he thought Benny was basically lying on his death bed, only to find his adopted son walking into the room after a sleepover with his girlfriend, or paramour, or whatever, looking actually fine. He was relieved, but pissed at everybody with the last name Winchester.

"It's a good plan, Sam. If she plays along she could help us find the grave, we dig it up, drag the bitch into the sun and we all be back to the next airing of America Got Talent," Dean argued.

"That's a monster, Dean. Who can turn into a Cougar, or worse. You are not seriously thinking you can trust that thing," Dean just shrugged.

"This 'monster' saved at least 7 people, two of which are happen to be me and Benny. Yeah, I think I take a shot on trusting her."

Benny tried not to roll his eyes. Ever since Sam was back after Emily or Anneliese or whatever had dumped him he was hellbent on killing everything without a pulse. Your kind happens to have an eerie looking Wikipedia page and is not human? Sam Winchester will cut your head off for good measure. It was guilt, plain and simple, guilt for dumping Dean in the first place after sending this dick Dick Roman to purgatory. Dumping him when he was at his lowest, with Cas suddenly gone and Kevin gone and Crowley gone and the tablet gone, a victory that felt like a defeat nonetheless. First Dean was okay with Sam taking a break. He didn't really had one after Cas broke his noggin and put it back together, but when it became clear that the younger Winchester stopped giving fucks and Dean realized that he wouldn't come back something broke in Dean. At first Benny just stuck around because someone had to keep an eye on him, later it was because they made a hell of a team. Sam eating humble pie at last wasn't that much of a surprise and Benny happily stepped back to let the brothers reconcile, but did Sam had to be such a bitch? He ditched all the phones, so they couldn't find Kevin. He hit a dog and hit it off with (what Benny had heard) quiet bitchy veterinarian. He didn't give a crap where Cas had landed and how to get him back. And now he was Hunter MacHunterson? Benny wondered how long it would take before Sam would bring up Amy.

"We don't even know if this is really a Púca. As far as we know it's the same thing playing games with us. We don't know if sunlight can kill the Baobhan Sith. It could all be an elaborate plan to drag us all in the woods and wipe us out with one strike," Dean groaned.

"Why, Sammy, huh? The bitch had us already. She could have easily finished the job. Or do you think she checked on my Instagram if we are friends and is explicitly after you? We will call the Púca, we will make her an offer and if we are lucky she will help us. If not we will have to come up with another plan," Sam glared at Dean, then at Benny, then at Bobby.

"Fine, but when it's done we get rid of the Púca, too," Benny cocked an eyebrow, Bobby frowned and Dean just looked sad.

"First, no! Second, hell no! Why? And third, even if we wanted to, want we don't want, we wouldn't even know how. Can it, we don't just kill someone. She didn't do anything," Benny counted down. 3…2…1…

"Yeah? Like Amy?" here we go.

"Amy was different," Dean said softly. He regretted Amy, he really did, and yet Sam couldn't shut up about it.

"Like how," Sam asked aggressively. Dean sighed.

"You always forget the part where your childhood friend actually killed people," somehow everyone in the room was surprised. Benny usually didn't interfere when Sam and Dean had their little quarrels. Sam tried to stare him down, Benny wasn't impressed.

"You don't know anything about Amy," Sam snapped. Benny shrugged.

"Don't say I do, but do you? Besides, if you really wanna compare someone who actually killed four guys cracking up their skulls for the tender bits, whatever reason she might have had and whatever big of a dick the vics have been, with someone who legitimately did nothing, but help, I am not willed to take you seriously. I don't say it was the right call to ice Amy, but I say you just keep bringing that up to emotionally blackmail your brother, which is a low blow. You knew her like ten minutes 20 years ago. Stop pretending you give a crap about her. You were willed to let her go, fine. Dean didn't, okay. But just confess this whole mess is just convenient leverage against Dean for you. So why don't you just drop it and let us do the job," Benny received the mother of bitch faces and seriously thought for a while Sam would start swinging. Benny held his ground. He kept an eye on Dean, too, tried to find out if his friend was pissed at him. To his surprise he smiled at Benny. Sam opened and closed his fists for a while and then just sat on a chair. Is shoulder were tense and his jaw was set, but he was quiet.

"Great, let's call us a Celtic wood fairy," Dean said cheerfully in the silence.

* * *

The Impala pulled next to Benny's camper on the deserted parking lot. Sam just kept sitting in the car while Dean jumped out, happy to get away from his silently brooding brother. Bobby's Chevelle arrived a couple of minutes later.

"Look at that. I really start to like her," Dean ran to the hood of the camper. Their rifles and shotguns leant against the front, Deans Colt lay on the hood. Dean gave it a quick but thorough check up and tucked it in his jeans. He grinned happily about the fact that he got his favorite gun back. Benny on the other side looked something that could have been pouty if Benny would have been a seven year old girl.

"I don't like it. I paid good money to rent the boat," he definitely not whined. Bobby just huffed. He opened Benny's camper with his own set of keys and came back not even a minute later with four frozen fish carefully wrapped in saran wrap.

"We need to make her an offering and pay our respect. You fished these with your own hand. It's the closest to a sacrifice we actually can get in this short time," it sounded reasonable, but

"You are just too cheap to buy a turkey in a convenience store," Benny shot back with a glare.

"Yeah, that too. No help me get the ritual started," preparing something like that on a public parking lot might be a little reckless, but time was of the essence. They were ways to summoning a fairy, but Bobby was the opinion a calling spell would be their best shot. They didn't want to make the Púca think they wanted to force it into something. Addressing it respectfully and asking for its help was the more sensible approach. Bobby mumbled the words in ancient Pictish, the bowl with the ingredient started to glow and then…nothing. Benny and Dean were sitting on the hood of the Impala drinking coffee out of a thermos, Bobby had retreated into the camper because the humid chill started to get to him and Sam still pouted in the car. They waited for three hours now.

"When do we admit that this isn't working," Benny mumbled eyeing the half thawed fish that lay on a tarp in the middle of the parking lot. It had been a while since he had Halibut. So not cool.

"Uhm, guys?" it took Dean and Benny a minute to find what Sam was pointing at. Between the feathery twigs of a big fern peeped out the large head and the slender shoulders of a black wolf. The slightly orange glowing eyes ping ponged between Dean and Benny, and suddenly snapped to Bobby when he stepped out of the camper. Benny slid of the hood and made one reluctant step forward.

"Hi, hello. So, we called you to say thank you for saving our asses the other night. We brought you something, I guess. It's uhm, it's some fish. I caught it four days ago near Newport," Benny stopped afraid that he would start babbling. They had decided that he would talk since she seemed to like him more, but now he wasn't so sure that had been a good idea. The wolf stepped out of the woodwork and Bobby inhaled sharply, Sam mumbled a "Good God" and Dean just deadpanned "Well, now she is just showing off". All Benny could think was that the wolf was beautiful. She was large, with black velvet fur, long legs, slender built, a body to run. She held her head close to the ground scenting the surroundings. When she arrived by the fish she sniffled at it, made a happy sound and carefully managed to get hold of two. She ran into the wood without making a sound and was back after a couple of minutes to grab the other two. The four men waited.

"What if she doesn't come back?" Sam asked.

"She will," Benny just mumbled. Sure enough the wolf trotted into the parking lot after ten or fifteen minutes and sat down in a respectable distance. Her tongue lolled out of her muzzle while she panted like she just had a good long run. It made more look like a big black dog, than a wolf. She tilted her head. It looked like she was asking what was going on.

"We need your help," Benny started getting another head tilt to the opposite side as response. Go ahead.

"We have a plan, well, an idea. We can end the killings. We know that you help the hikers who got under the Baobhan Sith spell," another head tilt. That was not how she called her. "The one who sucks the blood out of those men. The one you saved us from. She has a grave or something like that where she retreats to during day. If you could help us find this place we could stop her, we could kill her," the wolf winced. It wouldn't be easy, it would be dangerous.

"But you know where it is?" a huff and she jumped up, he body tensed and her head turned to Sam and Bobby.

"Why leave them behind, they can help," she made a sound that was close to a bark, but not quite there yet.

"Oh, okay. But what about Sam?" the wolf growled at Sam.

"He won't. I promise. Dean and I will keep you safe," Sam, Bobby and Dean stared at Benny.

"Do you understand her?" Dean asked. All hell broke loose. Somewhere behind her a twig snapped and the twirled around with a snarl. It was Martin Creaser. Frankly, Benny had forgotten about him. He could hear Sam yell something and saw Creaser drawing a gun. It was aimed at the wolf, more or less, but actually Creaser was aiming at Benny and maybe this was his intention from the beginning, because the wolf charged. The large beast threw itself towards the men getting him by his shirt dragging him down with a loud thud. A shot went off and hit a tree somewhere left of Dean. Sam yelled something, Bobby yelled something, basically everyone was yelling until everyone just stopped when a loud yelp echoed through the woods. The wolf jumped away from Creaser just to break down with a wince. Creaser pulled himself from the ground with a strange looking violet blade in his hands. Blood tripped from it and he charged to finish what he started. It was Dean who tackled him down. Benny hurried to the wolf laying on the ground whimpering. There was a gash going from her ribcage to her flank. The gash wasn't even the worst part. The wound sizzled and burned and the wolf shivered and winced in pain. Benny touched her neck and nearly got bitten as reaction. She heaved herself up and limped backward snarling at any- and everybody. The wound still burnt, it even smelled like burning flesh and hair. When she reached the wood she turned around and ran. Benny ran after for a while trying to follow the trail of blood but it got lost really quickly and it was hopeless. He returned on the parking lot where Bobby had cuffed Martin to Benny's camper.

"What the hell did you just do," Benny demanded to know pulling the man up on his collar.

* * *

Benny spun the blade on the table of his camper. It had taken him a lot not to rip Creasers throat out, and after 15 minute of partially uncoherent babbling, not to do the same with Sam. Sam had tipped Creaser off. According to Sam to have back up, when she should turn on them and deep down Benny knew that were all of Sam's intentions, but that changed nothing. Benny knew he was unreasonable attached to the Púca. First and foremost he was a hunter and he knew that the strange connection he had with the fairy wasn't normal and probably something to be worried about. When were things like that ever a good thing? The blade was Obsidian. Benny rubbed his face. Fairies man. The whole case got weirder by the second. Killing normal monsters followed normal patterns. Silver, iron, salt, holy water, beheading, burning. One of the usual suspects usually worked, but for fairies you obviously had to dig out things from the fantasy novel armory. Soon they would behead spiderants with Stalgard's Decimator, 120 damage, plus 245 strength, intelligence and dexterity. It was less fragile than he expected it to be, for a glass blade. Bobby knocked.

"Sam's bringing Martin to the motel. They will rent a separate room. He will tie him up, if necessary," Benny gave the blade another spin. "Son?" Benny looked up. He knew what Bobby wanted to talk about.

"I know Bobby, believe me I know. Maybe," he paused and took a breath. "Maybe you, Dean and Sam should do this without me. Just, don't kill her. If she's still alive," Bobby lifted his ballcap and let his hands run through his short hair. "Where did you even get a blade like this, must have cost a fortune. Maybe Game of Thrones conventions."

"Good question, this and how he knew it would work. Not exactly the right time to go for try and error. He could easily get killed," they both sat there another minute. Benny tucked the blade into its sheath. "These things are hard to kill. She will make it, I am sure, though I doubt she will be any help now. Or ever. It was a good plan. Sam fucked up."

"Royally," Benny got up. "Sorry Bobby, I need some time alone. I will drive back, call it a night."

"Well, alright. Get something to eat, don't do anything stupid and don't think I won't check on you later."

"Yes, Dad," Benny smirked. He rarely called Bobby dad. The drive was uneventful. It had been a while since Benny craved a drink that much like today. In his motel room he took a shower until there was no hot water left and dropped on the bed in underwear and a white Henley. He couldn't get shitfaced, but he could play dead to the world for a bit, watching crappy T.V. and play Candy Crush on his phone. Someone knocked. Benny checked his watch and frowned. He got up retrieving his Colt from the nightstand. His frown deepened. Boxer shorts weren't the ideal pair of pants to tuck a gun into the waistband, but he could make it work for a minute.

"What are you doing here? Everything alright?" Marnie stood there, nearly one and a half head smaller than him, and fidgeted with her hat in her hands. She apparently felt uncomfortable to be here.

"I hope you don't think I am imposing, but I have to ask. Have you seen Elli today? She called in sick like two hours ago and she sounded really, really bad on the phone. Her sitter, Angela came by with her son Nathan, telling me the same. So I went to her. Her car is in the driveway, but the house is dark and no one is answering. I am really worried. She has not many friends, and I thought because you are police officer," she trailed off. She hadn't entirely thought it through. Benny froze. Here he had been thinking the day couldn't get worse.

"I saw her this morning, she looked fine," he heard himself say in a casual tone. "But if you want me I can check on her. No problem. I'm sure it's nothing, okay? I will just get dressed quickly and drive over," he gave her a bright smile.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked. And Benny smiled reassuringly. His mind was racing.

"No, no. That won't be necessary. I got it covered," he somehow managed to convince her to leave albeit hesitantly. He put on some clothes and was out in the open in less than 4 minutes. After a quick stop at his camper he opened Bobby's Chevelle with his own key. He whiteknuckled the steering wheel and his jaw was set. Benny Lafitte didn't believe in coincidences.

* * *

Her Skoda stood in the driveway and the house was dark and looked lifeless, just like Marnie had said. Benny didn't bother to ring the bell. After he parked the car a little away in a dirt road he walked into the backyard. He let the beam of his flashlight roam over the wet grass, the garden path, to the patio. She had troubles to change back into a human. There was a mix between human and animal footprints and a patch near the stairs to the patio when she had broken down. There was some blood and a greenish substance. Benny didn't even want know. She had stumbled over the patio in human form. Benny tried the veranda door but it was locked. He made short work in picking the lock. The house smelled funny, like a rock in a creek. It smelled clean and wet and a little like rain on dust. Benny checked the kitchen and the living room, but he knew where he would find her anyway. He entered the bedroom carefully. First he saw nothing. The room was dark and the light from a streetlamp right in front of her window made just the shadows darker. He heard a shuffle of fabric. Benny turned off the flashlight and walked closer to the source. He expected her to be curled up on the right side of the bed somewhere between nightstand and dresser but the place was empty. He slowly turned around. He could see the orange glow of her eyes from under the dresser table. When she realized that he had seen her she tried to retreat even further back into the darkness.

"You shouldn't be here," her voice was hoarse, weak and a little distorted. Benny heard the sound of tearing flesh and something that sounded suspiciously like shifting bones and she winced, followed by an aggressive growl. Benny walked slowly backwards until his knees hit the bed and he sat down.

"Maybe I shouldn't. But now I am. What you gonna do about it?" he heard her wincing breath. Now that she didn't had to try to stay quiet she didn't hold it back.

"Is…not safe," she pressed out between her teeth. He heard the sound of her shifting again. He could tell she tried not to scream.

"You won't hurt me," he said softly. She scoffed, followed by a wet cough.

"You…did this," the table shook rather violently and she groaned and winced. Benny felt every muscle tense. Elli tried to breathe through the pain. "Thought…you were different. You and the pretty one…uuungh…different from other hunters. All the same," Benny sighed. She didn't remember Deans name and lost quite a bit of her eloquence, either due to the pain or because her animal form meant she was less intellectual. Either way, maybe her warning that being here wasn't safe was valid.

"What can I do?" she didn't answer for a long time.

"You did enough."

"How long you knew I'm a hunter?" he asked to change the subject.

"Heard you … in the woods. Followed you," the situation got more and more confusing for Benny the more she talked. So she hadn't known when they went out, it had come to her knowledge the night after.

"You followed us in the woods?" she shifted again. Her breathing sounded raspy and as if she had liquid in her lungs.

"Forrest not safe," she mumbled. Benny rubbed his beard. He was torn between being epically pissed about her and heartbroken that she had to suffer because of him.

"I never wanted to hurt you. It wasn't us. I would never hurt you," he stopped a little surprised by his own words.

"Doesn't matter now. Go!"

"Please, let me help. There must be something I can do, anything," he nearly pleaded now. She stayed quiet for what seemed to be 10, maybe 15 minutes, apart from all her sounds of agony.

"A well," she finally groaned. "Not far from where the fish was," Benny needed a second to translate what she just said.

"The parking lot? Where we called for you? What well?"

"My well, it's…I can show you," he already had jumped up and closed the distance between them when she growled at him rather menacingly.

"Alright, of course. You probably don't want me to see you like this. I'll be right back," it took him a moment and he had to go into little Nathan's room to finally find one, but he returned with a big, dark blanket and put it down in front of her. It was a human hand that reached for the blanket, but Benny flinched when he saw the nearly transparent white skin that exposed swollen arteries underneath.

"Wow, this blade really messed with you," he mumbled. Bobby always said his bedside manners needed improving, by the growl that followed his comment the old man was right. "Sorry," he said and pulled the bundle from under the dresser. Whatever form she had taken, it was rather small and light. Benny wondered if he was carrying a slightly oversized otter or something, but pushed the thought away. He tended to do this, distracting himself from important things with stupid thoughts. This had him almost killed once, and albeit this wasn't exactly a life and death situation for him right now he needed to focus. It very well could have been one for her. He put her on the backseat in an intent to give her at least the illusion of some privacy. The phone he had carelessly thrown on the passenger seat rang. He already had 6 missed calls. Four from Bobby and two from Dean.

"I'm kind of busy," he said in the phone while he steered the Chevelle from the dirt road onto the asphalt. He quickly made an estimate how much time he would need to go to the parking lot and wondered how far this ominous well was from there.

"I know damn well what you are doing son. Tell me where you are and Dean is coming to get you," Benny frowned, a little stunned to be honest.

"Bobby I'm not a child anymore I don't need to ge..,"the dime dropped. "I'm not on a bender. Do I sound drunk to you? Jeez, it's been three years since my last big fallout. You can at least trust me a little," there was a heavy silence between them for a second. Benny speeded the car up a little. It was the middle of a Sunday night, chances to get pulled over were rather slim.

"Well, where are you then now?"

"I can't tell you."

"Then forgive me, but I do not quite believe you right now."

"You know what? I'm hanging up. I will not have this conversation with you, again, on the phone. I promise I'm fine, just gotta do some…stuff," with this he hung up and sighed heavily. He heard the rustle of fabric from behind.

"The old man…your father?" Benny nodded until he realized that she couldn't see him.

"Yeah, for better or for worse."

"You hunters are strange," Benny laughed out loud. To be called strange by a fairy that could transform into any given animal was ridiculous. He arrived on the parking lot half an hour later. First thing he did was getting a shotgun from the trunk, better safe than sorry. He opened the backdoor and cradled the bundle into his arms.

"So, what now?" to his surprise he somehow knew where to go. It was like a very familiar way he had gone hundredths of time and could basically go with his eyes closed. The kind of way where you suddenly realize that you had walked half already without even really knowing how and when.

"I can see we are back to telepathy?" he said when he turned left on a weird shaped Oaktree because he just knew that he had to do that.

"Easier than talk," she mumbled muffled through the blanket. She probably had a point.

"So you can talk in your animal form, you just didn't want to earlier?"

"Didn't want…my voice."

"You didn't want me to recognize your voice?" she made a little sound he interpreted as a yes. "You didn't want me to know," he deducted. "Look how long you were able to keep that little secret?" she actually chuckled on that.

"Longer than you…yours," he had to smile. Benny actually had expected something more magical. A little fountain illuminated by moon light and dancing fireflies or something. Turned out it was just a well. A broken one. On side of the wall had collapsed and the water from the spring feeding the well had poured into a little basin. There was a lot of moss growth going on on the stony shore and the branches of a willow hung low over the smooth surface, nearly covering all. If you didn't know what to look for you would have missed it. He put her down carefully and stepped a couple of steps back turning around respectfully. He heard something glide into the water so he turned around again. The water still rippled but otherwise she was nowhere to be seen. He retrieved the blanket and a black sweater she was obviously wearing and put both items on a dry stone for later. There was nothing to do. He walked around a bit, he kicked some stones, he touched the bark of a tree. Finally he sat down next to the intact part of the wall, leant against it and pulled his knees up. With the shotgun between his legs he put his forehead on the cold barrel and tried to sort is thoughts. He had a lot of question. He watched the moon wander over the night sky. Listened to the sounds of the night birds in the trees. A deer stepped on the clearing caught his scent and retreated quickly. It was quiet and peaceful. Benny was bored to death. Finally, after nearly three hours he heard her settling behind him on the other side of the wall. They were now sitting back to back, he on the damp grass and she in the water of the well. She probably was in the better position.

"What's your original form, your true form?" he asked into the silence.

"The woman."

"And you can transform into any animal?"

"To a certain extent. I've never tried anything bigger than a horse or anything smaller than a rabbit."

"What's your favorite form?" he shouldn't ask her that. He should ask her hard questions like if she bewitched him, if she knew where the other fairy was buried, how to kill the bitch, hunter questions.

"Everything that can fly, I guess. Nathan loves my horse and my wolf."

"Your wolf is beautiful," he heard himself say. What was wrong with him? "Nathan, is he…human?" he hoped it didn't sound like a threat or something.

"As far as I can tell. He is very sensitive though, sees a lot more than other people."

"You are not afraid he might tell someone?" she chuckled.

"He is 5. No one would believe him, would they? I'm a diner waitress. If my son tells anyone that I sometimes turn into a wolf to cuddle with him at night they wouldn't bring out the flares and the pitchforks, they would call me and recommend a child shrink. Besides, he didn't tell, never has and the older he gets the smaller is the chance that he ever will," Benny hummed. Sounded reasonable.

"Why is he human?"

"That's just how the fairy world works," he could hear the smirk in her voice. "The magic is inside me, it cannot just procreate," Benny didn't push. The fairy world was odd at best, with weird rules and strange creatures. As far as he could tell the movie Epic might be a decent description of some parts of it.

"And his father? Sorry I shouldn't have asked," he retreated immediately.

"That's okay. I loved him very much. We were happy and then he just died. He had a car accident. I maybe could have done something, but I wasn't there," she sounded a little sad. "He did know, if you want to ask me that next. I would have told you, too. Especially after I found out that you are a hunter."

"You healed me the other night, didn't you?"

"Just a little bit, fixed your rib, your shoulder, and your concussion, made you sleep well. Just enough to keep you up and running without raising too much suspicion."

"That's actually a little creepy-stalkerish to do it when I'm sleeping. Cas at least asks for permission," or just did it when Dean yelled loud enough.

"Who is Cas?"

"Dean's angel friend. Tags along from time to time. They stopped the apocalypse together. Well later he kind of fucked up the world royally after anyways, but they fixed that, too. Do you remember when Roman Enterprise crashed and burned last year? That was them, sending that dick straight to purgatory. I helped," she didn't say anything for a long period of time.

"That's, uhm, of course you did. Is this Cas guy the same that killed all those church leaders and motivational speakers a while back? With a trenchcoat?" she had pushed herself up the wall and looked down on Benny who looked up in return. In this angle she was just a silhouette against the night sky, a naked one that dropped cold water on him. But her eyes still gloomed orange. He nodded. "Wow," she dropped back and he could hear water splashing, "I remember that, big disturbance in the force," Benny wondered when this here had become a casual conversation. "That somehow explains that you take this whole thing here so cool," she said softly. Benny hummed thoughtful. Did he take it cool? Oddly enough the answer seemed to be yes.

"I have a very flexible definition of normal. I was a vampire once, Dean, too," he said solemnly. Yeah, that shouldn't feel so normal to say something like that. It was kind of nice to say that to someone else, though. He heard her moving again and saw her from the corner of his eyes climbing out of the well. He tried not to stare when she walked to the little pile of clothes and blanket. She nearly swam in the oversized sweater and wrapped herself tight in the blanket. She dropped heavily next to him on the ground.

"I am starting to think I am not the strangest thing here."

"Probably," he eyed her carefully. Her skin looked okay again, the eyes didn't glow anymore, but there were deep shadows under them.

"How do you feel?"

"Better, still on the mend. Give me a couple of days and I am good as new. You guys shouldn't have that blade. I can feel it burning through your pocket. It's oozing black magic," Benny suddenly felt apologetic.

"I didn't mean to, I."

"It's okay. I don't trust you either right now," she said. When he turned to her he could see her smirk. Suddenly he was kissing her and he had no idea how that had happened. At least she was as surprised as he was. He pushed himself away and jumped up.

"I am so sorry. Why am I keep doing this?" he started to pace. "You are like a drug or something. Listen. You need to be completely honest to me. Did you do something to me?" she looked honestly puzzled for a second, than she frowned.

"I can't do stuff like that. I mean I've heard that my beauty is enticing once or twice," he gave her a look, "and who gets a look on my animals might be awed a bit, but I can't lure people. I didn't inject you with some magical aphrodisiac, if this is what you think. I am physically incapable to do this," Benny actually believed her, which he shouldn't.

"Okay, let's assume this is true," now he got a look from her. "Something is wrong with me. And I don't mean that I am stupidly in love with you after just two days. I saw the Baobhan Sith's true form and even she was surprised by that. She said she can't kill me, forced Dean to do it. I can hear your teletalk and I am way too easygoing about you being…being…a thing," he ran his hand through his hair and stared at a spot on the ground.

"Ah shit," she just said and heaved herself from the ground. "Benny? Look at me," he lifted his head. Elli sort of looked worried, alarmed and apologetic at the same time. This couldn't be good. "I am sorry, I didn't think this would happen. Hell it never happened and I'm like 400 years around this neck of the woods."

"Oregon?"

"Earth," she said after a moment of irritated silence.

"So what has happened? Am I about to die?" he had meant it as a joke, a half-hearted one, but for a second something appeared in her face that looked suspiciously like consideration.

"No, of course not," a little too high to be convincing. "I'm pretty positive you won't die, like 95 percent positive, 90," she tucked her bottom lip and he stepped closer to her.

"What did you do?" he asked. He even managed to sound a little threatening. She sighed.

"Well, there is a chance that when we, you know, slept together the first time something of my…magic…tagged on your soul," he stared at her blankly.

"You marked my soul?"

"It wasn't my choice, it just happened and it is not much of a mark, it is more like…uhm…a label?"

"A label? Saying what?" she now gnawed at her bottom lip. It started to get bloody.

"Something like….mine?"

"Mine," he repeated toneless. "Like in yours mine?"

"Well, uhm…kind of?"

"You claimed ownership. Over my soul," he rubbed his neck and stepped back. He understood only half of what she just said. Or maybe he understood all of it, but wasn't able to wrap his head around it.

"It's more calling dips on it. It's still yours. It's, uhm, complicated. Things like her," she started to pace a little. "We don't really have a name for. They are parasites, feeding from souls. She is not just drinking their blood, it's the energy, too. Souls are really, really furnaces of energy. But when a soul is already claimed, they cannot take it. No matter who claimed it. Let's say you sold your soul to a demon, it's owned by hell, you're safe. True matches made by cupids, sorry to inform you soul's been claimed. You find your soulmate, like your true soulmate, claimed, not allowed to touch it," Benny stared at her pacing. Well, waddling confined by the blanket, but close enough.

"So I feel about you this way, because," she interrupted him. Annoyed, impatient, desperate?

"It's the other way around. It happened, because I feel that way. And it had to be mutual," he just kept staring. He seemed to be able to do only this lately. She dropped unceremoniously to the ground. She sighed. "I know where she hides during the day. I don't know if dragging her into the light works. Never heard of that. Don't like the bright light either, worth a shot. The blade might do some extra harm," she said in a soft voice. "There's a spell. It will send her into my home, my realm. She doesn't belong there. They will hunt her down and kill her. But even if, the spell, it will take three maybe 5 minutes and in the meantime she is in full power…or not…the light thing. Well…I never hunted. Is this hunting? It kind of sucks," Benny palmed his face.

"Can we go back to the part of the conversation were you told me that we formed a bond because we love each other?"

"Well, that is an oversimplification."

"Oversimplification like a model is an oversimplification of a scientific process or an oversimplification like saying greens are good for you is an oversimplification?" there was a confused silence from her side for the second time during this conversation.

"What?"

"Why are you just to 90 percent sure I won't die from this?" she stared at the ground and started to pull out grass blades.

"When you leave the bond will break after a while and there's a chance you get sick. Like the worst lovesickness you've ever had. There's a chance that it will feel like something has been ripped away from you, which, technically, will be the case, and that you'll think nothing is worth living for. When this happens to someone he or she just fades away. It happens sometimes, not always," she added quickly. She actually sounded sad. He rubbed his beard and sighed.

"Alright, we cross that bridge when we get to it. Get up. I'll take you home and then you sleep, or eat, or whatever it is you have to do to gather your strength, come on."

They got back to her place around 3 in the morning. The drive was silent and a bit tense, both dwelling on their thoughts. Elli had used the time to write down the ingredients for the spell and Benny studied the list while she was taking a quick shower. Nothing on that list was impossible to get, especially when you had a Bobby Singer on your hand, but he might had to drive to Portland where he knew a very well sorted hunter shop. He tried not to think too hard about the fact that he knew that she would come to the kitchen 15 seconds before she entered the room. It was like he could feel her presence in the house.

"Okay, thanks, uhm," she fidgeted with the string on her sweatshirt. He looked at her with a soft expression. She looked tired and worn out.

"You should rest, okay? I'll talk with my dad and we get the ingredients for the spell. It might take a day or two, so get better. Spend some time with your son."

"What's with the other two hunters? The crazy one and the tall guy? They still want to kill me, they cannot know who I am," Benny nodded in agreement.

"They won't, don't worry," he tilted his head. "Dean will understand. Worst case scenario I'll send him to keep an eye on you and your son," he gave her a reassuring smile. "How vulnerable are you right now?" she shrugged.

"At the moment you could probably shoot me."

"You want me to stay the night?" he asked seriously. She actually looked like she shouldn't be alone, but he would leave if she wanted to.

"I want you to, but I don't know. You shouldn't stay. We shouldn't deepen what is between us," she mumbled nearly soft enough that he didn't hear her. He smiled and took her hand leading her to the bedroom.

"I think it's too late for that," he said. After he got rid of his jeans and got in the bed she reluctantly scooped closer to him and curled up on his side with her head on his chest. He put an arm around her.

"That lovesickness thing after we break the bond," he asked the ceiling. "This can go both ways, can't it?" she didn't answer for a long time and he thought that she was asleep already.

"Yeah," she finally said and all Benny could do was hum as an answer.

* * *

"I have to say I don't like it and I'm worried what that might imply," Bobby grumbled. They were in the diner having breakfast, Bobby, Dean and Benny. Benny hadn't much of an appetite which didn't stop Dean from shoving huge amounts of waffles in his mouth. "You are sure she didn't…do this to you?"

"No, but she seems as confused about the whole mess as I am."

"That's reassuring," Bobby mumbles and nipped on his coffee. Benny looked at Dean expectantly.

"What?" he said with a mouth full enough it wasn't exactly acceptable in public. Benny shrugged.

"I'm just waiting that you get it out of your system?"

"Getting out what?" Bobby smirked. "But dude, I'm not sure what to make out of this. You are fairy married," Dean gave Benny the 8-year old eyebrow wiggle. Benny gave him a fake smile back.

"Okay, now that this is out of your system, anything else to say?"

"I think it's weird, but she seems cool. Besides the spell is legit. The language is some old Romanian accent, don't know why, and I don't really care. Sam's huffing and puffing because he thinks we up to something and he's not invited, but nonetheless he found a shop in Oretown that sells this rare thimble powder and considering the recent events I won't tell him we got some of it in our trunk and send him and Martin on a wild goose chase."

"You're a good friend. When did you do all that research? I called you about this like two hours ago?"

"I know how to use a computer. Wouldn't hurt you to learn that, too."

"I want to meet her," Bobby said and Dean chuckled.

"Meeting the in laws already? You guys move fast. Mazel tov!" Dean grinned and became a little more serious when the waitress, a young blonde that looked like a teenager came to refill their coffees and took his plate. Benny sighed.

"I'll talk to her, but if she doesn't want to meet I won't push. She's still kind of weak and very wary about you guys, even you Dean," Bobby shrugged.

"Understandable, but make that two," he said. "While Sam and Martin go to Oretown Dean and you can make the trip to Portland. I'll give Travis the heads up so he can pack all we need and you just have to swing by. In the meantime I will hit the books."

"What you expect to find? We exploited all resources about the Baobhan Sith," Dean asked drowning his coffee. Benny already knew Bobby's answer.

"It's not her I'm interested in."

* * *

Okay, maybe she was about to show off, or better, to try to drive a point home. She still was a fairy, and a very powerful on that. Nathan was in kindergarten and she felt much better, so she tailed Big Guy and Baldy to make sure they were out of town and went back to Benny's motel right in time to see him and Dean driving away in a black Oldsmobile that looked impractical as shit. Now she leant on her car eyeing into the motel room of a Bobby Singer, the bearded old guy from yesterday. She sighed and looked around. The parking lot was deserted. One second she was there, one second she wasn't.

"You got the warding wrong," she deadpanned from one of the two beds. Bobby twirled around, knocking down his chair and pointed a gun on her. They stared at each other for a while until Bobby sighed and tucked it away. He grabbed a mug and took a sip of what she assumed was cheap motel coffee machine coffee.

"So you are her, hm?" he grumbled and she shrugged.

"Well, if you refer with her to the fairy you fucked up yesterday although she was trying to help you, then yeah, I'm her. And you are him?" she laid back comfortably on the bed and raised her eyebrow. Bobby scoffed. Despite everything he kind of liked her instantly. Maybe it was a fairy thing.

"Well, if you refer with him to Benny's father who will finish the fucking up part if you deliberately try to hurt him, yeah, I'm him."

"Good," she stood up in a swift motion and walked over to the table. She took a paper and turned in to its back. She started to draw a complicated symbol. "That's the warding you aimed for, keeps Púcas, Cailleachs, Black Annis, Korrigans, and Tylwyth Tegs out. So," she turned around and lend on the table with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Ask away."

"What's a Tylwyth Teg?"

"A nuisance, come on Mr. Singer, that can't be what weighs on your mind?" Bobby squinted at her.

"Okay, Benny tested you with iron. Why didn't that work?"

"The black feas burn when touched by iron. And I, good sir, am not a black fae."

"Whose body is that?" Bobby never was one for pussyfooting and he read a lot of lore about Púcas. Like a lot a lot. Elli frowned. "You gave birth to a human child, that's impossible unless this meatsuit you parading around isn't yours."

"I should have seen that question coming," she mumbled. "Meatsuit? That's a vaguely disrespectful word for it. Angels at least calls it vessel. I do not possess some poor woman, though. I'm, well technically I am, but she was dead, and a kid. I'm taking good care of that body."

"I need a little more details, lady."

"Keswick, Northern England, 1923. Her name was Lily. She was 5. I watched her every day. Her mother would make her do some basic chores in the morning, feeding the chickens, stuff like that, and after that she would come and visit me in the woods. She was so pretty and so carefree and so," Elli looked into nothingness with a soft smile and warm eyes. "Pure. And one day she didn't come, and the day after, and the day after that. I missed her dearly, so I got a bit reckless and went to her. She was dying, some sort of cough. I'm not a doctor. My best guess pertussis. And I was too late. I can do certain amounts of healing, but she was too far gone."

"So what did you do? Occupy her empty "vessel"?" he made actual air quotes.

"No, I killed her," she said and looked him dead in the eyes. He tensed up. Suddenly they had some sort of Mexican standoff without guns. "I gave her an out, or rather an in. I let her in my realm. She left her body here, but she had to give it to me. Willingly. Everyone was happy. The family had her little girl back and little Lily is dancing and playing for the rest of eternity."

"That's wrong in so many ways," Bobby mumbled. She gave him a challenging look. Bobby became uncomfortable. It was like she was looking for something inside of his head, and obviously she found it.

"Wrong like what? Drinking demon blood? Opening the gates of hell? Selling your soul for the location of Death? Starting the apocalypse? Really? Twice? Being in cahoots with demons? I am a fairy. Some children are special for us and we protect them with all we got. I failed her. I wasn't there. This was the only way. This body will wither and die eventually. Until then, it's all mine."

"You planning on telling Benny this?" she shrugged.

"Maybe I would have, but what's the point now? You finish her off, you leave. End of story. That said," she turned to him with squinted eyes. "I want you to know something, Mr. Singer. I'd rather die than kill somebody, but if that lunatic or his master ever come close to me, or God forbid, my child I'm going to hurt them really, really badly, and I might not even change into something for that," surprisingly enough Bobby thought that this 100-pound chick wasn't kidding.

"Understood. I will deliver that message. How is this turning working, with a human body?" she made sparkling fingers.

"Magic," she stage whispered and Bobby scoffed. "You think you and Pretty Boy are up to kicking her ass? You won't see her, Dean might not be able to resist her, and well, and I need to keep my distance."

"Why's that?"

"She's scared of me," Bobby frowned.

"And that's a bad thing?" Elli rolled her eyes. "She will run away. This whole plan on killing her depends on her sticking around. She already got a taste of Dean, she won't let him go easily this time. But if she sees me, she will," Elli was pacing, but suddenly she stopped. "You might wanna tell Dean that."

"Thanks for telling us now," Bobby said with a pretty much enough irony to remove rust with it. Elli wasn't impressed. "Yeah, it kind of slipped my mind with trying not to die earlier," she answered the same. Bobby smiled.

"Well than, anything else we need to discuss?" "Timing of the spell, you can read your lines to me, I tell you what needs improvement. This spell is rather sensitive when cast by an … amateur. You maybe end up turned into a frog," she tilted her head a little. "With a ballcap. That will probably look pretty funny," she winked at him and dropped back on the bed. "Come on, gramps, show me what you got," she said, and Bobby had to laugh.

* * *

Benny sat on his bed late in the evening of the same day and cleaned his gun just to get his mind of drifting back again and again to the question what he should do about the whole being soul-bonded to a fairy thing. Without success. They would send the Baobhan Sith into that fairy realm Elli was coming from and then what? He would just leave, break the bond, hope for the best? There was a fair chance after all that he would get out of this unscathed, maybe a bit sadder than before. Bobby was currently hitting the books searching for a way to break the bond without risks, and Dean tried to get a hold onto his angel, but Cas was a no show so far. Not that that was surprising since he was off ever since his mysterious return from purgatory. He pushed the slide back and forth and put a new magazine in with a sigh.

"You hunters are not living the high life, that's for sure," he nearly fell off the bed. The Winchesters might be used to the constant popping up of supernatural creatures out of thin air, but he wasn't. So that's how Dean felt all the time? He gave her a little glare and Elli just shrugged. "Cat's out of the bag, why bother with subtility. Nice boxer shorts."

"That ain't funny," Benny grumbled. He got up, put the gun in his duffle bag before he turned to her. She had made herself comfortable on the little seating area by the window, she had even propped her feet up like she owned the place.

"Kind of relieved to see you're better," he drawled, and she smiled at him.

"My kind's resilient. Met your Dad, nice man, kinda gruff, a little rude," Benny had to scoff and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah he told me that. Said rather similar things about you by the way."

"That I am nice man?" he gave her a look.

"Alright, not that I'm not happy to see you," he was, and part of him worried how much indeed. "But what are you doing here? Where's your kid," she looked in the distance for a bit with a blank face, blinked shortly and looked back at him.

"Ignoring bed time and reading comics under his blanket."

"Huh, well that's a mighty convenient ability."

"He will love that I can do that when he's a teen. And you know why I am here. We probably need to talk," now Benny sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, probably. But what is there to talk, really? I mean what are the options? I cannot stay here, you know that," Elli clicked her tongue.

"What if you don't have to?" he looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" she rolled her eyes to his thickness.

"Let's ignore the fairy thing for a second and look at it from an interpersonal perspective. You and I don't know the first thing about each other, I even less than you since half of the things you told me were point blank lies," Benny blushed, although she said this matter-of-factly and without any heat in her voice. "So starting to suddenly live a life together just because some metaphysical bond dictates it is one bad idea if there ever was one. And I have to think about my son, too," he still didn't catch on. Benny wasn't great in relationships, so this was no surprise.

"Okay, agreed."

"Doesn't mean we cannot see each other, keep the bond intact all while we really get to know each other, but you don't necessarily have to stick around for it," she looked at him expectantly, even made a little encouraging head tilt, raised one eyebrow.

"You mean like long-distance dating?" he said awkwardly, irritated by the absurd conversation they were having.

"That's exactly what I mean."

"How…," he began slowly, but she interrupted him. Her tone was rather annoyed.

"Benny, didn't you just see me teleporting into your hotel room or what? Do you think that I can do that just within a 20-mile radius of my home base? I can go wherever I want to whenever I want to, I can literally go to other dimensions. So it should be easy to pay you a visit in Bumfuck, Idaho," Benny stared at her.

"That sounds a lot like settling in a compromise," she scoffed.

"First, you sound like a woman's magazine there, second, don't tell me you don't want this, too. I sure as hell want to," he took a deep breath. Truth was he wanted to, like bad. But he was a hunter, a fact that always complicated everything. So part of him refused to believe that it should be so easy, that he might actually could have this. They sat in silence for a long time. She looked at him patiently and with a very calm expression.

"You think this can work?" he asked after a while, mostly into the air in front of him since he sort of stared at his hands.

"We never find out if we don't try," she got up, walked to the bed, and sat down next to him. He glanced over to her with a little smirk.

"That is super weird," Elli had to chuckle.

"I kind of rummaged around in your Dad's memories, I apologized for that, but consider what you guys are doing for a living that is probably not even in your personal top twenty," Benny had to admit that this was not so far off the truth.

"So you can read minds now," he stated with a sigh, already settling in the weird part and making his peace with it.

"That's not hard, it's like telepathy just the other way around."

"Of course it is," he sighed again. "Alright," he said after another minute or so and looked her in the eyes. "Let's give this a try," she beamed at him and suddenly kissed him, a bit out of the blue. Although he was surprised he melted into the kiss. They somehow landed on the bed not shortly after, she on top of him.

"You know, tomorrow with the black fae and that spell, this is seriously dangerous," she mumbled against his pulse point. "This could be your last night on earth," she had a smirk in her voice.

"Thanks for the trust in my abilities and the wonderful peptalk," Benny chuckled.

"I'm just saying," she pushed herself up and bracketed his head with her arms. Her long, black hair was tingling his face. "If this is your last night on earth," she bit her bottom lip. "Wanna go out with a bang?"

* * *

Preparing the ritual was a cumbersome endeavor that took them the better part of six hours. There had been powder to kibble, strange potions to mix and complicated sigils to draw. None of them, not even Bobby, had ever done a spell that complicated. Sam was maybe still huffing and puffing, but the events of two days ago and a very thorough lecture by Bobby, nothing else but knocking him into shape, had humbled him and he kept the bitching at a minimum. It was him, though, who suggested halfway through the exhausting preparations that maybe, only maybe, Elli was messing with them since it was quite hard to believe that she went through these great lengths every time she wanted to visit her grandparents or whatever. All she probably had to do was waving around her hand or her wand. Bobby and Benny had just scoffed dismissively, but the seed of doubt had been sown and Benny had to admit this might be a possibility. However, they would have had it coming, and even if she might add some unnecessary glitter, the spell and the outcome still were legit. Benny had kept Elli and his arrangement for himself, at least for now. This was a conversation for another time, preferable over the phone, when a gallon of gas was exceptionally expensive, and Benny was somewhere way down South, maybe Mexico City. She was nowhere to be seen, but she was somewhere out there, Benny could feel her presence as a slight tingle on the back of his head. The side in the forest they were right now was an inconspicuous plot of Oregonian Woods, mostly firs and the occasional pine and hemlock. Not that Benny knew his trees. Like her well there was nothing magical or our of the ordinary about it, it was almost disappointing. None of them were sure what they were expecting to happen.

"Alright," Dean said. "Let's do this," he swiftly loaded the chamber of his shotgun. Sam parroted him albeit hesitantly.

"Here goes nothing," Bobby chimed and started with the incantation. That bitch wasted no time. Bobby was barely ten words in when the wailing began. At least it sounded like wailing in Benny's ear. Bobby didn't seem to hear it but it was clear that the Winchester's did, both of them. That went out of control real fast.

"Shit," Benny said. For a second Bobby paused. "Keep going!" Benny yelled at him. Offense is the best defense, right? He went for Sam first as long as the man was still just confused. This time Benny wasn't taking any chances.

He did learn from the best after all, and choke hold might be illegal nowadays, but it wasn't in 1968. Sam was struggling, and Benny had a hard time to keep 6feet4 and 220 pond of muscle under control. He partly tried to keep an eye on Dean. Let's say Bobby wasn't taking any chances either. Dean had tried to attack him, shotgun first, when Bobby simply put a round of rock salt in the guys stomach. He would feel that for a week or two. Sam finally slipped into sweet, sweet slumber and Benny let him down rather gently. Dean was on his feet again, and this time he wasn't alone.

"Hey sweetheart," Benny shot her in the face. She screamed and disappeared. When she did Dean temporarily came back to his senses. This was new. Had to do something with the spell.

"Benny?" he asked confused. She was back again. Dean's eyes went blank.

"Oh, just give me a break," Benny grumbled. He actually didn't want to strike Dean in the face with the butt of his rifle. "Come on man," he mumbled strategically retreating from Dean, drawing him away from Bobby. It was surprising it worked. Something had changed in the air. There was a certain hum getting louder and louder any second, and Bobby had gradually raised his voice to drown it out. Dean was stumbling, clearly his conscious self was somewhat struggling with his hexed self. There was a tearing sound and all Benny could do was stare in a mix of awe and disbelief. There was an actual rip in the air, horizontal, maybe 20 inches long, bright enough it made Benny squint his eyes. Dean warily looked over to it. The Baobhan Sith screamed. Benny stared in pure horror when something physical got torn out of Dean's chest, sending the guy probably 50 yards in the opposite direction hitting a tree back first. She was clawing on the earth, leaving track deep track marks in the ground, while she got dragged slowly into the rift. Bobby was still reading. At this point Benny wasn't even sure if he saw any of this or just Dean seemingly random hitting a tree. He literally didn't know what to do. So he just stared. In hindsight he probably should have paid a little more attention. Fingers like clamps closed around his throat. It was Sam. A Sam who was jacked up by magic enough to lift him solid 10 inches above the ground. He couldn't see it, but he could hear Bobby raising his voice some more, trying to end this before the fae could end Benny.

A slender hand appeared on Sam's shoulder and he recoiled like acid got just poured over him. It was the Baobhan Sith who screamed, a sound loud and piercing enough Benny had to cover his eyes. Sam dropped on the ground like he just had been steel bolted. The hum was a roar now, the screams of the black fairy were loud enough to rip Benny's eardrum. Elli had stepped in front of him. Shielding him from the fae who, Benny could tell, looked on the other one loathsomely, while slowly but steadily been pulled into the void. The sudden silence when the, in lack of other words, portal closed, hurt in his ears.

Bobby dropped down like a dead weight. Elli gave Benny a little look and hurried over to him. He got up laboriously.

"Is he alright?" he asked worried, counting his body parts. He seemed to be alright.

"He'll be fine," she said and already made a beeline for Dean. Sam struggled to got in a sitting position.

"What happened?" he asked slowly looking around. "Did we win?"

"Barely," Benny sighed. He stumbled over to Bobby who currently came back to it with a groan. Benny made him sit upright. They both watched Elli crouching next to Dean with her hand hovering over his head and her eyes closed.

"What is she," Bobby started. Elli pulled away and Dean pushed himself upright. He looked around confused. His eyes fell on Elli who sort of grinned to him.

"Okay," Dean mumbled, and then with an exhausted grin. "That worked out just fine."

* * *

Benny was driving in a rather languid speed through an overcast and foggy Oregonian night. Now with the Baobhan Sith gone, the case closed, they all had kind of hurried to get out of the woods and as far away from there as possible. Bobby had known exactly what was going one between Elli and Benny when he not commented, only glowered unhappily, when Benny elaborated as a side note that the potential breaking of the bond with Elli wasn't an issue anymore. Dean had needed an hour till the dime dropped and had texted Benny asking if he was dating a fairy now, followed by all kind of wrongly used emojis. Benny felt strangely elated, he felt nearly happy, and for the first time in a long time the low that followed the high of a successful hunt wasn't accompanied by thirst. He even whistled and drummed his fingers instead of fighting his inner demons telling him that one drink wasn't one too many.

"Stop the car," Elli appeared next to him, nearly yelling in his ears. His overreaction was solid. He jerked the wheel around, sending the camper dangerously bending to the left and the shoulder of the road came closer with some speed. The time stopped. Literally. Whatever happened all Benny could feel was like he just sneezed with his hole body and suddenly the car sat on the street again, for some reason with the wipers on and the radio blasting on full volume, but at least Benny was still alive. He hectically fumbled with the dial.

"Are you crazy?" his anger dissipated the second he turned to her. She looked panicked and desperate. "What happened?" he asked immediately.

"He has my son," she played the pronoun game, but Benny knew exactly who she meant. "And he as himself warded against me. I can't find him," Benny already went for his phone. "Please," he took her hand.

"We find him, alright?" Dean picked up after the first ring. Benny could hear hair rock blaring in the background. "Dean?"

"What is it man?"

"Creaser has Nathan."

"Who's Nathan?" Benny rolled his eyes.

"Elli's son?" the music stopped and Dean harshly ordered Sam to pull over. "Is she sure about that?"

"Of course I'm fucking sure, he called me in the diner," Benny looked at her not the slightest surprised that she apparently could hear what Dean had said.

"Did he say something else?"

"That he will call me again later. Benny, please," he squeezed her hand a bit tighter.

"It's Elli he wants, he won't hurt him. Does Nathan has a phone?" Dean asked. Then after a short pause and some mumbling that was probably Sam. "Never mind. Sam's tracking Creaser. He already got him. I send you the address. We meet up there, alright? And tell her to stay back. Creaser's dangerous and a loose cannon. If she somehow barges in there her son might get hurt," with that Dean hung up. Just seconds later Benny's phones buzzed receiving the text Dean had promised with Creaser's whereabouts. Elli's eyes fixed on it.

"Where is he?" her voice sounded icy. Benny took a deep breath.

"Look, Elli," her eyes glowered violet now.

"Where?!" Benny stood his ground.

"Dean's right. Creaser's unstable, but he's also a hell of a hunter. Or he used to be. He still knows some tricks. He got himself that knife, remember? He's waiting for you. Probably setting up a trap for you. You just rush in there guns blazing you might get hurt. Your son might get hurt. We get him back. Safe and sound, I promise. But you have to trust me," the violet had gotten brighter during his speech. "Do you trust me?" and just like that the light went out and she broke down crying. She nodded, but that was all she could do. Benny carefully took her cheek in one hand. "Hey, look at me," she did. Púca or not, by the end of the day she was just a mother desperate to get her child back. "We find him. We get him back. Everything will be alright, okay?" she nodded again and tried to stifle her sniffles.

"He's just a kid, Benny."

"I know," Benny opened the message and programmed the coordinates in his GPS. When they were back on the street he carefully took her hand again. She clutched it pretty tightly. Her hands were clammy and she nervously whipped with her feet. "We find him," he repeated like a manta. "It's gonna be alright."

Roughly two hours later Benny parked his camper next to Dean's Impala. Dean and Sam were currently rummaging around in their trunk. When Benny and Elli got out Dean was just putting his gun in his belt. Sam gave Benny a strange look he couldn't read, but he wasn't dwelling. They had bigger problems.

"Bobby called. Creaser stole the knife back. He's on his way here, too. But I suggest we don't wait for him," Dean nodded to the building they had parked on. It looked like an abandoned storage unit facility. "Guess he's in there. We go in smart, alright? Sam and me first, you two stay back. Maybe we can talk him out of it, alright?" he mostly seem to ask Elli. She was pale and her jaw was set. Her lips where just a fine line. She didn't seem happy with Dean's proposal, but she nodded, albeit tensely. They made their way into the ramshackle building slowly and carefully. Elli stumbled when she entered and took a sharp breath. She looked like she was on the verge of fainting. Benny held her up.

"You alright?"

"It's the warding," she took some deep breathes. "That's some serious mojo here," she mumbled. Then she shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "I'm fine. Let's get going."

They didn't need to go very far. All they had to do was following the sound of a five-year-old crying. Benny had to hold Elli back to run to him already. Dean shot his brother a look, they nodded in understanding and stepped around the corner into some hall. Creaser pulled Nathan against him and pressed the obsidian knife against his throat.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, okay? It's us. Alright?" Creaser looked between the Winchester's with harried eyes. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Get back!" he snapped. Dean lifted his hands calmingly.

"Relax," he focussed on the kid. "Hey, it's Nathan, right?" the little boy nodded. "I'm Dean. That's my little brother Sam. We are friends with your Mom, alright? She send us to get you back," he looked wide-eyed between them. Creaser sneered.

"The Winchester brothers friends with a monster? Glad your Dad wasn't around to hear that. He's have a mind to take you both out the woodshed and show you what's what," it was never a good idea to bring John Winchester up to Dean, maybe that's why his soothing tone turned into a steelcold threat.

"You think? I don't know about that, but I'm sure I know what he would say if he could see you now holding a knife to an innocent little boys throat. Let him go Creaser. Let's talk, alright?"

"Innocent? That kid's probably a fairy, too. Shall we find out?" he pressed the knife harder against Nathan's skin, drawing blood. The boy whimpered and closed his eyes. Elli freed herself from Benny's grip and jumped forward.

"Stop," Creaser jerked back, dragging Nathan with him. He pointed the knife at her. "You finally showed yourself, you unholy creature?" under different circumstances Benny would find the wording amusing. Not today. He stepped behind Elli not bothering with subtlety. He trimmed his gun right at Creaser's head. "Please, he's just a kid. It's me you want," she made a couple of steps towards him. Dean had drawn his gun, too, but he wasn't really pointing on Creaser.

"Mommy?"

"It's alright, baby. I am right here," she walked even closer. Benny had no idea what her intention were, but he didn't like it. Dean neither.

"Elli, stop. Everybody stop and take a breath, alright?" he ordered. Sam had started to move closer to Creaser, too. He tried to get behind him unobtrusively while Dean, Benny and Elli distracted him. Elli was just a couple of feet away from him and her kid now.

"Please," with that everything happened at once. Creaser shoved Nathan carelessly aside, sending him flying on the ground. Sam pulled him up immediately and brought him out of the danger zone. He cried for his mother. Creaser attacked Elli, while Dean and Benny both shot. Dean missed. Benny didn't. His bullet grazed Creaser's throat, ripping open his jugular. Wide eyed he broke down in Elli's arms. She stumbled away from him and he fell down on the floor. He made some gurgling sounds when the last of his life left his body. Everyone somehow stared at the body except Nathan. Sam had enough common sense to cover the kids eyes. Benny turned to Elli.

"Are you al," he stopped, because she looked at him with weirdly wide open eyes glowing faintly orange. He frowned and followed her gaze down and on her stomach. Creaser had stabbed her and the knife still stuck in her body. She sagged into herself and Benny caught her.

"No, no, no, no," he mumbled desperately when he let her down on the ground. Strangely enough she smiled. It was a bit distorted by pain. She took his cheek in her hand like he had done only two hours before.

"It's gonna be alright," she whispered. Nathan had somehow managed to free himself from Sam's grip and now ran to his mother. He stopped and looked down on her helplessly.

"Mommy?" she asked. His voice was shaking heavily. He looked like he would start to cry again.

"Hey baby, come here," hesitantly he dropped on his knees and scooted closer to his mother. She took his hands in hers. "Listen, everything will be fine, okay? I will always be there, you know that? Always," she said. She was smiling but her voice was threatening to break and tears run down her cheek into her black hair. Benny watched in horror how dark veins crawled up her naked arms and up her chest and throat. Nathan nodded with a sniffle. "Alright," she said softly. "I love you. Mommy loves you," she looked at Benny. The orange was a dim red now fading more and more. "Take care of him, please," he barely heard it, but he understood her well enough. All he could do was nod. "Close your eyes," she said. "I said close your eyes," she repeated louder and more commanding when no one did. Benny pulled Nathan against him and shielded his eyes from the sudden bright light radiating out of hat looked like cracks in her body. He pressed his eyes close to, shielded them with his arm until the bright orange in front of his eyelid disappeared. He opened them again carefully. He could tell she was gone. Benny pulled a now heavily sobbing Nathan against his chest who buried himself deep into his canvas jacket. All that was left of Elli was a her dead and empty body.

* * *

 ** _11 months later_**

Bobby stood on the window of Bobby's kitchen rinsing the last of the breakfast plates when one of the phones rang. He threw the dishtowel over his shoulder.

"Agent Willis, F.B.I.?" for a while he listened to the uncertain voice asking carefully why a federal agent might want to dig up a body that was dead for 128 years now. Benny asked himself the same thing. He personally wouldn't have gone with the F.B.I. cover when dealing with a Depression era ghost but apparently that was what Agent Smith was doing. Benny had no idea who exactly that was, but seriously, the guy was basically asking for it. He interrupted the poor, overwhelmed local badge.

"Listen, Officer."

"Henley, Sir."

"Officer Henley, when my agent says he has to dig out that body than he has to dig out that body. You don't want to impede a federal investigation, do you now?" that usually did the trick with local cops from half abandoned towns in flyover states and it did now, too. Benny hang up with a sigh and made the short trip through the back door into the yard where Bobby was tinkering with his Chevelle while Nathan stood next to him on a stepladder with a sober and thoughtful expression and listened attentively. With a little help from Jodie and Charlie Benny somehow turned out to be a distant cousin of Noelle Soirse Byrne, Elli's official name on her officially faked certificates, making him the only next to kin and guardian of one Nathaniel Noel Byrne. Apparently Benny was part Irish now. Nathan had settled in well enough. Of course he missed his mother, but it wasn't as bad as Benny had anticipated. There was the occasional crying in the night, temper tantrums and yelling that Benny was not his father, but usually the little boy was well adjusted. It helped that he went to school now, he even got friends, although most parents were a little reluctant to let them come over to the scrapyard of the town drunk and his weird adoptive son. Bobby really took a liking to the little boy and Benny had a hard time stopping him from pulling the same stops he had pulled with him and teach him everything about the things that go bump in the night, advanced weaponry and then some. Not that Nathan would complain. Benny caught him often enough snooping around in Bobby tombs, but Benny had no idea what Elli would say to that and besides, six was too young for shit like that. Benny himself took his new father role rather seriously. He had stepped a step away from the hunting, confined it to research, manning the phones and the occasional salt'n'burn, and that was it. Benny was convinced though that he couldn't keep Nathan away from the life forever, especially since Elli had been right, he did see more than anybody else which led to a rather uncomfortable encounter with a young shapeshifter on a local fair. Benny had let him go. The guy hadn't done anything, but he did have a rather stern conversation with Nathan that he couldn't just walk around, point at random strangers and tell them that he knew what they are.

Bobby caught his eyes and gave him a little nod. Benny walked down the stairs and whistled for Rumsfeld who needed a while until he decided to listen to the command. The old Rottweiler took his time and demanded a thorough scratch between the ears before he started moving. Benny made his way across the junkyard to the edge of the forest and followed a little deer trial until Rumsfeld, who seemed to know where Benny wanted to go, turned left into the rather sparse woods. Nathan spent a lot of time in here, and although Benny had a clear idea what exactly he was doing here he hadn't it in him so far to investigate. He hadn't been ready, until now. He followed the dog for nearly 40 minutes until he stopped and gave his master a strangely intelligent look and dropped down on his belly putting his head on his front-paws with a over-dramatic sigh. Benny stepped into the clearing. When you would measure the fairy ring right in the center you probably would find out that it formed a perfect circle. Benny was sure it hadn't been here before, he knew these woods like the back of his hand after all. Slowly he stepped into it. He hadn't really knows what he had expected but what he got was nothing. He sighed heavily. It didn't surprised him. He stood around for a while, waiting for … he had no idea for what. He looked into the bright blue September sky and sighed again.

"Alright, I feel stupid, but here it comes. If you can hear me, can you give something? Anything?"Benny wasn't exactly known for his patience, but he managed to stand around and wait for nearly 30 minutes until he decided to give up. He stepped out of the ring, and was already half-way across the clearing when he heard a snap of a broken stick and turned around. It was a deer, an ordinary, non-magical one, plump before the winter, with rather shaggy brown fur, staring over to him through the think lashes of his strangely soft eyes. It lifted it's head, scented in the air, turned around and made a run for it. Somewhere behind him Rumsfeld made a sad little, uncomfortable whining sound.

It started as a tickle on the back of his head, a soft whisper in his ears, an easy breeze through his hair. There was a shift in the air, subtle, barely there and Benny closed his eyes. Someone took his hand. There weren't solid, it was more like the touch of a ghost, but warm and grounding, and Benny smiled. He couldn't really hear her voice, it was more like he heard her in his whole body, and he didn't really feel her soft breath close to his ear, but it felt real for him.

"Took you long enough."


End file.
